Mapped: How much council tax will rise in your area this year
Households across England are set to be hit by a 5 per cent average council tax rise
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Your support makes all the difference.The average annual council tax bill will rise by £106 this year as local authorities struggle to provide frontline services, according to new figures.
The bill for an average Band D property will increase by 5 per cent to £2,171, with all 153 upper-tier councils applying some or all of the social care precept of 2 per cent, statistics released by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities show.
This means the overall council requirement in England is £41.2 billion - an increase of £2.5 billion on 2023/24 - while average annual bills have risen by 20 per cent since 2020/21.
The Independent has put together this interactive map below which shows the average council tax in all councils in England.
Lighter areas on the map show the councils with the lowest tax, while darker shades show the highest council tax burden.
In London the average annual bill for a Band D property will be £1,422, an increase of 5 per cent on 2023/24.
Metropolitan districts outside London will see an average annual increase of 5.4 per cent to £1,837, while bills in unitary counties with no districts will rise 5 per cent to £1,886.
Meanwhile, the average bill in other county areas will increase by 5 per cent to £1,643, with districts in these areas adding an additional £266.
Councils have warned they face difficult trade-offs due to a prolonged funding squeeze across local government, despite a recent boost of available funding by £600 million.
Annual council tax increases remained below 1 per cent between 2010 and 2015, but rose to 5 per cent for the first time in 2018/19.
Upper-tier councils currently cannot raise council tax above 4.99 per cent, including the social care precept, without gaining approval from a local referendum.
Parish precepts in 2024/25 will total £783 million, which is £75 million higher than in 2023/24.
Some councils in severe financial difficulties have been granted permission by the government to increase council tax beyond the 4.99 per cent threshold.
In the last six years, eight local authorities have issued a section 114 notice, which is in effect a declaration of bankruptcy. Prior to 2018, the last time a council had been forced to do so was in 2000.
Birmingham City Council has approved a 9.99 per cent increase – taking annual bills for a Band D property to £1,793.
Shaun Davies, Labour chairman of the Local Government Association, said councils are starting the financial year in a precarious position and scaling back or closing a wide range of services.
“This means many are again left facing the difficult choice about raising bills to bring in desperately needed funding,” he said.
“It is unsustainable to expect them to keep doing more for less in the face of unprecedented cost and demand pressures.
“Keeping councils on a financial drip feed has led to the steady weakening of local services. Local government needs greater funding certainty through multi-year settlements to prevent this ongoing decline.”
Additional reporting by PA
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