Is your Council tax rising? Fed up

[coffeeteac]

news.sky.com/story/council-tax-how-much-is-yours-going-up-by-13076146

Mine is going up 4.99 percent. I am fed up of absorbing the costs of everything rising and rising. My wage is not getting that much better.

Just feels like we are getting poorer every day. Just fed up.

I agree with some of this.

If you are getting the service most people are happy to pay. But instead we get councils that fine you loads when you put the wrong thing accidentally in a bin, enforcement officers who don't do anything about things like noise and littering and police that don't even bother turning up for burglaries.

I don't think you can blame the government though. It is often the local councils that are horribly run, and most of those are Labour.

I just don't understand where they think us as individuals can pull more money from. Like most, my wages have stayed the same and everything has gone up.

I earn above minimum wage but public sector and not high up! So I'm not making a lot of money. Plus the pay rates are fixed, I can't negotiate.

I'm fed up of it. Life is going back to just being about surviving. What's the point?

@Baconking I think you are on the money there!

Same. I'm feeling quite down with all the price increases 😔 . Tried to do the right thing and get a good career but stuck on a stagnant wage... and just keep getting hammered with all these increases.

@CrazyCatLover
Exactly. I am deemed a "professional" and when I did my study/training, I thought I was lifting us out of poverty! (I was a single parent). Having only had minimum wage jobs before. Thankfully my DC are now adults because if I was trying to feed and clothe them out of my wages too, I'd be screwed! I wouldn't actually be any better off than the time I spent on benefits.

Absolutely utterly incompetent but yes let’s just blame the evil Tories / central government despite the multiple reports of various LAs disastrous investments, ridiculous ‘schemes’ e.g bus lanes for less than a mile or the one today - Pay thousands for a sculpture of an average Premiership footballer and then don’t put even erect is as they can’t agree where to put it ffs!

Tell me about it. seems like every elderly person is awarded higher rate. You are only meant to get higher rate if you have significant day and night time difficulties or care needs yet even when I explicitly say on the form there are no night time care needs they still all seem to get awarded higher rate ! Then an old person who gets even £1 of pension credit will then get another £75+ pound a week of pension credit on top of the £100 attendance allowance so over an extra £750 a month ( if they live alone - sdp ). I've had elderly people awarded higher rate AA who are running exercise classes for the elderly and running errands for other old people. travelling abroad independently etc. No one checks or does an assessment - it is just awarded willy nilly. And a lot of these people have very significant savings/ assets too. I have no idea how this country hasn't gone bankrupt. I know I know I need a new job and thoroughly expect to be slated but I honestly don't think some people have a clue and the system needs some serious overhaul. I should add though that none of this comes out of local authority funding . I'm just having a rant.

Council Tax is about as flawed as taxes get, although even then still a massive improvement on the Poll Tax.

Band H in Westminster £1828. Buckingham Palace in that council area.

46% of households in England will receive a bigger council tax bill. That’s a dig at Council Tax rather than the Royal Family.

what’s the pothole situation in The Mall?

I don't even mind paying but as others have said. There's things like social care that his been taking £££ per week for decades now. It's not the staffs wages that it goes to, same for nurseries the staff are poorly paid. People have mentioned potholes in the road, Been collections cut. A friend of mine doesn't even have a garden waste bin (mad I know). There's lots of cuts every where I started DS at a new playscheme and the times are naff 08.30 till 16.30 since covid a lot of holiday camps are like this too. Where is the money going?

Yep. 5% here too.

Also, my parking permit is going up 20%. Again. It was £45 a year when I moved in just over 5yrs ago. £120 for six months when I last renewed in August and is due again (for a public car park 200m from my house). The infuriating thing is I have a BB and an allocated disabled bay (painted white so worthless) outside my house but if I go out, someone else has parked in the bay without a BB.

And breeeeeaaaathe Hat, breeeeeathee!!

But the Scottish Government is funding a rise! So no additional cost to council tax payers in Scotland, other than water and waste water.

SG funded previous council tax freezes, so while increases continued to be made in England, their council tax is far higher than ours in Scotland. Plus water rates are separate and very expensive as I understand from my English relatives.

4.99% here too. To be fair they have just built a new leisure centre and are meant to be building a new library. Maybe if they increase the police charge enough they’ll manage to stop the increase in crime around here but I’m not getting my hopes up.

What does bug me is that we pay extra for a garden waste service that they basically haven’t provided all year due to staff shortages. I’m only going to pay if you can actually provide the service!

Government could of course fund local Govt properly, as they used too, stop this ridiculous tax cuts rubbish, which benefits you more as you earn more, so things like CT rises hit the lower paid the worst.

Hunt gave away billions in tax cuts last year, but the biggest gainers are the well off.

The average UK worker is seeing their standard of living plummet, working hard to stay poor.

The UKs roads are falling to bits but in France (where you also get loads of rain and snow) roads are well maintained, how come????

Mine's going up £110 in the coming year.

Our local council isn't bankrupt yet but they've pared everything back to the bare bones.

Our village has organised volunteer litter picks, we have parish councillors cutting back overgrowth on footpaths to avoid paying contractors, and we look for volunteers for most things.

I think this is going to be a year of self-sufficiency. 🙁

This gives a pretty good summary of how funding has changed since the Tories came to power in 2010. So yes, I'm afraid it can be blamed on this government. The colour of the local authority is irrelevant.How had local government funding changed since 2010?

My council isn't listed but no doubt it'll go up.
Not surprised, everything is broken and doesn't function.

Yup, I'm in Birmingham and it's outrageous they're charging us 21% more for the same old shit.

21% for massively reduced services- they weren’t exactly at a high standard to begin with

Westminster is funded largely by business rates. Those same businesses will also be paying eye-watering sums into central coffers. So Westminster is hardly freeloading.

Why do you keep voting that party in then

Interesting....it's 'bloody stupid' to freeze council tax (presumably due to impacts on funding) yet last year, you called the Scottish goverment's income tax increases "absolutely ridiculous".

I know for unionists it's a case of "everything the SNP do is bad", but try to be at least a little bit consistent please.

But I digress, to the topic in hand.

You can't put a government who champion austerity and funnelling public money into private pockets in power for 14 years and expect for the majority to come out better off.

Unfortunately, things are only going to get worse due to the chronic under investment in this country. I was looking at the divergent paths of UK and European energy prices and a big reason as to why we have such high bills is the tory's absolute refusal to invest in any form of energy infrastructure or security, leaving us far too reliant on gas and completely at the mercy of the international energy markets.

Even worse, their "plans" to address this are all focused on the 'late 2030s' so we've at least a decade, if not more, of high prices to enjoy.

Yes, it goes up about a tenner a month each year. I live in a student city and none of them pay council tax so permanent residents have to pick up the tab.

I don't, I spoiled my ballot paper at the last local election as none of the candidates represented my views enough for me to vote for them. But I live in hope...

Attendance allowance for pensioners is not means tested, but the applicant has to supply medical information & it is awarded accordingly. Lots of people have hidden disabilities & illnesses that no one else can see. Therefore you may see someone who "looks normal,", but they may have had extensive surgery or a medical condition that is ongoing. Lots of elderly people have multiple medical issues.

BTW
I believe that all Welsh & Scottish people receive free prescriptions with no age restrictions. English people pay for prescriptions
Where is the fairness ?

Council tax increases every year !