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.

One of the problems it that there are so many people who don't have to pay (council tax exemption) that the burden on those that do pay not only increases but they get less services for their contribution. It's ridiculous. There are already far more recipients of tax receipts largesse than contributors. It's completely unsustainable and unfair.

All Adults pay for their own care costs until their savings fall below £23,250.
Private care homes can often cost in excess of £2,000 a week and the the LA has to pick up this cost once the persons savings have been depleted as often it’s not in their best interests to be moved at this point.
Specialist care for dementia sufferers can be in excess of £5,000 per week.

I'm in Staffordshire and it's 5 percent here but I'm grateful it's not 10 percent like it will be in Birmingham for the next 2 years.

Please do not vote to bring back Poll tax

There is no escape from death or taxes !

I really object to the PCC, what waste of money that office is. Would pay more if when on social care, adults and children. And street lights!

Central govt have absolutely drained local authorities dry. It's bleak. Unbearable service cuts are being contemplated most authorities.

My council hasn't announced but there's rumors swirling that they are taking about 5.5% which is absolutely fuckin shit as the council service here is appalling

It's probably appalling because they have no money left

9% here and cuts to everything. NE Wales. I should move across the border.

Our council is notoriously bad at money management, they come up with big projects and never complete them because they fuck up on the costing so nothing ever gets finished. Been the same for years

Yep mine is 5% also.

We already pay far too much as they put our new build house in a band D bracket despite being a quarter of the current value of the nearby band D properties but as its new build there is no 1991 value to go by so they overestimate it.

We are having to look at selling the house. With all the cost of living increases, caring for a disabled child and my NHS wage not keeping up we are being priced out.

It is miserable!

I'm in South Wales, can't find a finalised figure, but they were looking at 6.7%. I know councils are desperately trying to keep services running, and we must have had our money's worth with the amount of support we've had with DS, but we can't keep absorbing increases in everything with no increase in income.

And that's why we need to start having discussions around quality of life and peolld being kept alive

How much money in the bank accounts of local authorities has central government “drained”?

Or do you mean central government has refused to fund local authorities as much as the local authorities would like?

Councils, like the NHS, are extremely inefficient with the funds they do get.

The most recent example I had was chatting to a taxi driver a few weeks ago who was explaining about how he and his wife (who was a DBS’d chaperone for children in his taxis) were stunned at how much the council would pay them to transport children with extra needs to schools.
He didn’t want the contract so had put in a quote for ‘stupid money’ and lo and behold, the council got back to him and accepted.

A mum friend at school has a DS with significant health needs. They live in a £3.5m house and her DH holds an extremely well-paid senior position in a bank. Her DS receives free schooling, transport and they had a pool installed in their basement at significant discount. I don’t begrudge her DS what he needs to improve his life, but come on - they completely played the system and councils allow it.

As I understand it Central government grants were cut by 40% between 2009/10 - 2019/20.

At the same time local governments statutory responsibilities increased for social care. So they've used money from unprotected things like libraries/road maintenance to pay for care (protected).

However, the government has steadily increased the amount by which local authorities can increase council tax without a referendum from 2% in 2011 to 5%.

It's government policy in action.

All true of course, but if the extra money comes from central government taxes would still have to rise to pay for it. I am very conscious that as we approach an election anyone cutting taxes is either making public services worse or lying...or probably both.

Our local city and county councils are both on the verge of bankruptcy. They can't seem to provide even basic services like helping anyone to make a benefit claim or apply for a Blue badge. Many pensioners can't do online claims which are the only options. The council just refer them straight to us ( a small charity ) to help people. It's like they've just absolved themselves of any responsibility forcing charities to pick up the pieces. Charities who rely on donations and fundraising to keep going and pay their staff. It's actually quite disgusting that they can't even give a basic level of help. Meanwhile our charity is completely overwhelmed with referrals with a couple of advisors to help over all 50's in the whole county and a large city. At one time these councils would give grants and funding to assist our charity to provide these services, now we are just expected to provide the service for free.

Yup, going up the 4.99%.

Think my council has escaped bankruptcy by the skin of its teeth, so I should probably be grateful it's not more.

And having worked in social care I agree with @Spectre8 about quality of life etc, not just for financial reasons but humanity as well. If I kept an animal alive in some of the conditions I've cared for people in it would be rightly called cruel and unnecessary suffering with no positive outcome to come from it.

That and making sure the money goes to the actual care and not care home owners and shareholders pockets making even more profit.

Starting to feel like those mugs like me simply exist to make everyone else richer tbh with everything going up and some of the worst companies for it recording increased profits, squeezed even tighter with taxes and told it's so we can have the services we want and need but then they just deteriorate further and no one is ever held accountable.

I'm fed up too OP.

I hate the way they use percentage, usually a single figure to imply it's a small increase.
25 years ago my council tax was £60 a month. Now it's £180 (without this increase).

That's 3x what it was. I wouldn't mind if salaries were also 3x what they were 25 years ago, but for most people that's not the case. With food and energy prices also increasing in proportion to salaries, it's contributing to people feeling poorer.

I'm in Scotland and our first minister Humza Useless announced at the SNP conference last year that council tax in Scotland is frozen. Councils are already strapped for cash after years of no council tax increases, despite public sector pay increases and increases in other costs (councils haven't benefited from caps on utility bill increases). Councils are on their knees but the public still expects the services they have received for years.

I’m in Brum so dreading it! I’ve just received my rent increase letter too!

no info about pay rises at work though!

Council tax is still so shocking to me, as I didn't grow up in the U.K. I'll never get used to it, and am just constantly amazed that people accept it and that's it's considered normal to receive a bill for thousands every year for things that should be paid for via general taxation of over 40%. Sure, most countries in Europe have something similar, but it's in the hundreds, not thousands!

What do you suggest? It's a priority bill that can see you in jail. Should we riot?

It's not a bill.