Council Tax budget information

The Secretary of State made an offer to adult social care authorities (“Adult social care authorities” are local authorities which have functions under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014, namely county councils in England, district councils for an area in England for which there is no county council, London borough councils, the Common Council of the City of London and the Council of the Isles of Scilly). The offer was the option of an adult social care authority being able to charge an additional “precept” on its council tax without holding a referendum, to assist the authority in meeting its expenditure on adult social care from the financial year 2016 - 17. It was originally made in respect of the financial years up to and including 2019 - 20. If the Secretary of State chooses to renew this offer in respect of a particular financial year, this is subject to the approval of the House of Commons.

For 2024 - 25 the House of Commons has approved an adult social care precept of 2%. The Council has considered this flexibility and decided to levy an adult social care precept of 2% in 2024 - 25. This will generate additional funding of approximately £4.6m which will be used to meet the rising costs of adult social care as a result of growth in demand for services supporting mental health, learning disabilities and older people, as well as funding inflationary pressures within the care provider market and enabling investment in priority areas including the transformation of adult social care and health services.

The increase is calculated as 2% of the previous year’s average Band D charge (excluding parish, Police and Fire precepts). This means that the adult social care precept for a Band D property in 2024 - 25 is £273.05, an increase of £35.89 (calculated as 2% of the 2023-24 average Band D charge of £1,794.52).