Surrey council abandons plan to raise council tax by 15%
I first saw this story unfolding on a big screen whilst waiting for a train in Kings Cross. I thought how many travellers waiting anxiously as part of their rail travel in the UK experience will have time to take this very important story in? Very few was my suspicion. Well anyway the story itself is very significant in the context of the ongoing challenges linked to the funding of adult social care and it tells us:
Surrey council has backed away at the last moment from a controversial plan to poll voters on a 15% rise in council tax, mainly to pay for social care, instead recommending a rise next year of just under 5%.
The Conservative-run council, whose leader David Hodge has said it faces a crisis because of central government cuts combined with ever-increasing demand for services, had planned to hold a referendum on the rise.
Since 2012, councils, fire services, and police and crime commissioners are required to hold a referendum if they wish to increase council tax by more than the cap set by central government.
Budget papers prepared for Tuesday’s full budget-setting meeting of the council still proposed the 15% rise. However, a last-minute set of revised recommendations instead said the council would seek a rise of 4.99%, which would not need public approval.
Speaking to the council meeting, Hodge said “relentless” cuts had seen a £170m reduction from central funding since 2010. At the same time, increased demand for adult and child social care meant two-thirds of the budget went on these alone.
Even the 4.99% rise would require the council to make £93m in cuts during the 2017-18 financial year, Hodge said.
The revised budget plan would be voted on by the council, a spokeswoman said.
Hodge told the council he was backing away from the referendum plan, which had caused some alarm in Theresa May’s government, on the assumption a longer-term solution was being planned in Whitehall.