Stockport council’s ‘ambition’ to freeze council tax next year has been thrown into doubt following the autumn budget. Finance chief Coun Malcolm Allan told a full council meeting the government had signalled an expectation town halls would use increased 'flexibility' to hike bills to fund services - creating a 'challenging' and 'difficult' situation.
But he insisted the Lib Dem administration still wanted to 'save' residennts from the 'regressive' tax if at all possible. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced on Thursday that he is to allow local authorities to raise council tax by 5pc - including a 2pc adult social care precept - from April.
He also shelved proposals to cap social care fees on the grounds town halls had ‘very real concerns’ about their ability to deliver the policy. And there is an additional £1 billion to extend the Household Support Scheme for a further year, ‘helping local authorities to assist those who might otherwise fall through the cracks’.
READ MORE : Warning people could pay hundreds more in council tax as major hike set for next year
Otherwise, councils are expecting the same again when the provisional Local Government Settlement - which sets out how they will be funded over the next financial year - is announced in December. Coun Malcolm Allan, cabinet member for finance, told a Stockport council meeting that may seem reasonable on the face of it.
But rising prices - or ‘inflationary pressures’ - mean it will be ‘eroded’ by the time the next financial year comes round. Responding to a public question on the impact of the budget on Stockport, he said: “While this may not be the case, it’s tempting to say that, by the time we get to next April we will already be 10 pc behind what we have now."
The Lib Dems administration signalled its aspiration to freeze council back in July, with a motion that sought to relieve the ‘financial burden’ on residents. And at Thursday night's town hall meeting, Coun Allan branded council tax as ‘regressive’ as it does not take into account people’s current circumstances and ability to pay.
But he said chiefs had ‘no choice’ but to look at putting it up as it is the only way for the council to bring money in, bar business rates and some service charges. “The fact that various things that are around are not going to help us is not a good sign for council tax,” he added.
Coun Allan said that the government had given local authorities a ‘signal’ with its decision to allow them to raise council tax by 5pc without holding a referendum. “What they are saying, what a lot of us would interpret that as doing, is they are expecting us to go almost the whole way - or some of the way - towards doing that,” he told the meeting.
“That’s something that is quite challenging and something we are all going to have to think about, and will be quite difficult going forward.”
Coun David Meller questioned whether, while well intentioned, it had been ‘appropriate or responsible’ for the Lib Dems to raise residents’ hopes of a council tax freeze.
Coun Allan said it was responsible to try to save residents from ‘regressive’ taxation. “It would remain all of our ambitions to try and help those people most vulnerable in our wards and our residents,” he said.
“And therefore it remains an ambition to do the best we can to avoid putting taxation on them if we possibly can.” Pushed on whether the Lib Dems were considering an increase, he added: “We have a stated ambition to freeze council tax.
"We have never said that will actually be the outcome because it’s not our decision - and we have never said that will be what will happen because it’s such a volatile area and continues to be volatile.But it’s still our stated ambition.”
Council leader Mark Hunter also insisted his group was not ‘rowing back’ on its ambition under questioning from Coun Mike Hurleston, leader of the Conservative group. Stockport full council met at the town hall on Thursday night (November 24).
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