‘SHIFTING responsibility’ is how one leading politician has described the government move to lift the referendum cap on raising council taxes ‘so the council is seen as the bad guy’. 

The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has announced that local authorities will be allowed “additional flexibility” to increase council taxes to help plug an estimated £55bn hole in the Government’s budget. 

Wokingham Borough Council leader Clive Jones has criticised the plan to allow taxes to be raised by 4.99 per cent without the need for a referendum – up from 2.99 per cent – suggesting the government should be providing councils with more funds. 

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“What they are doing is putting the responsibility on the council, so the council is seen as the bad guy. It’s a very difficult position to be put in by the national government.  

“It’s wrong, they should be giving us more money.”   

The move means that the average ‘Band D’ household could see an extra £100 put on their bill, without the need to ask permission from residents – rising to £250 a year by 2027-28. 

Around 95 per cent of councils are expected to hike payments by the full five per cent permitted, according to Treasury analysis. 

It would push the average ‘Band D’ bill above the £2,000 threshold for the first time and will cost households up to £4.8 billion a year in five years’ time. 

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Bracknell Forest Council executive director for resources Stuart McKellar said its decision on the level of council tax increases will not take place until February when the budget announcement is due. 

He said: “Like everyone else, we have only just received this information and need time to understand how it impacts our budget setting process.” 

Increases are made up of three per cent per year just for council taxes and a further two per cent to raise the adult social care precept. 

It comes against the backdrop of inflation rising to 11.1 per cent, a level not seen for more than 40 years, as the cost-of-living crisis continues to inflict pain across the country – including for councils.   

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Cllr Jones claims that in many sectors, the level of inflation is even greater than this. 

He said: “We are allowed to go for an extra 4.99 per cent in total, [but] we are going back to redo contracts [and] a lot of the increases they want are not just 11.1 per cent, they are much more than that – especially in construction.”  

Wokingham is currently in the process of constructing their budgets and Cllr Jones is urging the government to reveal how much funding councils will get as soon as possible. 

“We have still got to see how much money we are going to be given by the government and we won’t know that until Christmas Eve. What a way to run an organisation, it’s terrible. 

“It gives you six weeks to make a budget as the budget meeting is February 6. It’s just ridiculous.”