Communities and Local Government: Third year of Council Tax freeze announced

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has today announced new support for local authorities in England to help them freeze council tax for a further year and assist in keeping those bills down.

The Government will set aside an extra £450 million to help freeze council tax bills in England. The support for local authorities means that taxpayers living in an average Band D home in England could save up to £72 on a five per cent rise in council tax.

Over the last two years the Government has provided grants of around £2billion to help freeze council tax. A freeze in council tax in 2013-14 would represent a real terms cut of around two per cent and a fall of nine per cent in real terms over the past three years.

The full press release may be downloaded from Communities & Local Government website.

March 2013 Government announces council tax benefit support grants.

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Widening the Gap

Some facts and figures to help put some balance into this debate.

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Parish and Town Councils

Parish and Town Council precepts for 2013/14 are a cause for concern in many areas. Large rises are being reported by some even during these difficult times.

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Latest Newsletter

Latest Newsletter The latest round up of news and events includes:

Council Tax Bands and Scams
Town and Parish Council Tax Fiasco
Widening the Gap
2013-14 Spending Power per Dwelling
Local Government Pension Scheme

Read more...

We return to double taxation and the Parish/Town Council Tax Scam

Parish/Town Council Tax Scam We have returned to the Parish and Town Councils. For years we have been bending the ear of the opposition for these councils to be included in any capping and possible referenda. We thought they were listening, it seems not. Read more...

Due to Town and Parish councils being exempt from any capping of excessive council tax rises, this then leads to the double taxation issue. Double taxation occurs when a higher authority e.g. a District Council passes down responsibility for some local service or amenity to the lower Town or Parish Council, but does not pass on the funding it currently receives for it. This allows the higher authority to keep its council tax precept unchanged or with a small increase, while the Town or Parish Council has to increase its council tax precept to cover the additional costs. The effect of this is that the council tax payer is now paying twice for the same service or amenity. Read more...

Council tax and other information

Please note that all links will open in a new window.

Local Government Finance Bill: Localising Support for Council Tax - Equality Impact Assessment	This publication assesses the potential equalities impacts generated by the introduction of localised support for council tax in England in 2013
'Civic contract' proposals published	New proposals from Westminster City Council would require unemployed people to prove they are actively volunteering in the community to qualify for some welfare benefits
Communities secretary Eric Pickles has criticised councils for their extravagant spending on local authority credit cards	Pickles attacks use of council credit cards
Public sector pay increases have outstripped private sector salary rises despite the recession, according to research undertaken by think tank Policy Exchange	Public and private sector terms, conditions and the issue of fairness
DCLG: Details of the level of council tax set by local authorities in England for 2011-12 were announced on 23 March 2011	Council tax levels set by local authorities in England - 2011-12
Ministers have taken steps to de-mystify the complex formula grant funding system by publishing further analysis of the way in which central government funding will be distributed per resident around country	DCLG: Local Government, Residents can now see where council funding goes
Full details of the Local Government Finance settlement for 2011-12	DCLG: Local Government Finance settlement for 2011-12
Local Authority Council Taxbase 2010 England (revised)	DCLG: Local Authority Council Taxbase 2010 England (revised)
The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992	The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992
The Council Tax and Non-Domestic Rating (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2006	The Council Tax and Non-Domestic Rating (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2006

Local Tax for Local People

We were sent this paper by Liane Hoogland who said "I have done a project on Council Tax for my Master's in geography and thought this may be of interest to you. I have looked at the impact of the revaluation in Cardiff and shown that even a revaluation does not offer a solution for the structural problems with the council tax.

We're happy to publish this for Liane so that other people may read it. Click here to read the paper.

Liane Hoogland is on Linkedin - click on the logo.

Liane Hoogland is the Operations Manager at The Local Futures Group. Click here to find out more about her work.