| Published | 25 March 2010 |
|---|
Local Government Minister Barbara Follett today announced the action Government is taking against excessive council tax increases set this year by two police authorities.
In a statement to the House of Commons Ms Follett said that the police authorities of Greater Manchester and Nottinghamshire had set excessive increases in 2010-11. This follows publication yesterday of the annual statistics on council tax, which showed that the average Band D council tax increase in England in 2010-11 is 1.8per cent - the lowest ever rise in council tax.
Police authorities set their own level of council tax, which is called a precept. Greater Manchester Police set a Band D precept increase of 7.5 per cent and Nottinghamshire Police set an increase of 4.8 per cent.
Barbara Follett said:
"It is clear from the figures that most authorities have behaved responsibly and taken into account the effect of their 2010-11 increases on council taxpayers. A large number of authorities have managed to freeze or reduce their council tax. In many cases, they will have made tough choices about local priorities and delivered efficiency savings. I commend these authorities for working hard to keep demands on council taxpayers to a minimum.
"Where council taxpayers are faced with excessive increases it is right that we should once again take action to protect them. All authorities are aware that the Government is prepared to use its capping powers to achieve this."
The Government is minded to propose a maximum budget requirement ("a cap") for 2011-12 for Nottinghamshire and Greater Manchester police authorities at a level which is equivalent to a council tax precept increase of around 4.5 per cent for each of the financial years 2010-11 and 2011-12.
The authorities will not need to undertake rebilling in 2010-11, but action will be taken to restrict these authorities' council tax increases in 2011-12.
The authorities will be informed of their proposed caps for 2011-12 later in the year, at the time that the provisional local government finance settlement is announced. At that stage, the authorities will 21 days to challenge their proposed caps. Any challenge will be carefully considered before a final decision is taken.
1. The capping principles are that an authority's 2010-11 budget requirements are excessive if they set:
An authority must exceed both the budget requirement principle and the council tax principle to be subject to capping action.
2. The statutory process involved is that at this stage the Secretary of State 'nominates' the authorities for 2010-11 and decides to 'designate' them in advance for 2011-12. If an authority accepts its proposed cap for 2011-12 without challenge, a notice can be issued to the authority confirming its cap. Otherwise, a draft order will be laid for the approval of the House before any 2011-12 cap can take effect.
3. On 24 March, the annual council tax statistics for England were published. Details can be found at www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/counciltax201011.
Keep up to date with the Department by following us on Twitter (external link).
Visit our newsroom contacts page for media enquiry contact details.
Copyright © 2025 · All Rights Reserved · Institute of Revenues Rating and Valuation
Warning: Undefined array key "User_id" in /home/irrvnet/public_html/forumalert/inc_footer.php on line 4