| Published | 24 March 2010 |
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A below inflation rise of 1.8 per cent will make this year's council tax change the lowest ever, Communities and Local Government Secretary John Denham announced today.
Official statistics published today on council tax levels show the average Band D council tax set by local authorities in England will be £1,439 for 2010/11 - the lowest increase ever since the introduction of council tax in 1993/94.
The Government has given councils unprecedented support in the last thirteen years with grant increases of 45 per cent in real terms since 1997.
This year, despite the pressures on public money, councils will get an average four per cent increase taking funding levels to £76.2bn in 2010-11, helping to protect and improve front line services.
John Denham said:
"The lowest ever increase has been made possible by a 45 per cent real increase in government funding for local services since 1997.
"Our continued commitment will see councils receive an average 4 per cent funding increase in April - helping to protect and improve front line services.
"Councils will have some tough choices ahead as things become tighter, but that is no reason to lower their sights on delivering service quality people rightly value.
"Local people will rightly be intolerant of any council if they are told that care, libraries or youth services will be cut because they have not followed our radical reforms to protect the frontline services which matter most to people."
The Government's efficiency drive expects councils to make every pound work harder. Councils are expected to have made savings of £3.1bn over the last two financial years - equivalent to £172 off a typical Band D bill - which they can reinvest to improve services or reduce council tax pressures on the public.
To support those efforts the Government has set out radical reforms to protect local services, by reducing Whitehall burdens and back office functions to free up councils to put their local residents first and focus their resources on delivering high quality frontline services.
A recent report by an expect taskforce commissioned by John Denham sets out ten decisive steps councils can take to achieve efficiency whilst delivering high quality local services. Chaired by Sir Steve Bullock and Sir Richard Leese, the task force's recommendations included creating customer focused 'Total Place' councils cutting out waste and duplication, sharing back office roles like HR and IT, reducing the number of municipal buildings and having a chief executive that manages more than one public body.
The Government has already given councils greater stability, freedoms and flexibilities. Almost £6bn has been mainstreamed into government grant, which has no spending strings attached; the performance framework for councils has been radically slimmed down from 1,200 to less then 200 targets; and a smarter and cheaper inspection regime led by the Audit Commission has been established.
This year, councils will also gain responsibility for commissioning education and training for 16 to 19 year olds - funding worth a further £7bn a year. Last year councils were also given the power to raise a supplement on the business rate to support local projects that underpin long-term economic development.
1. The £76.2bn Local Government Settlement for 2010-11 is made up of various grants from central government that deliver an overall increase of 4 per cent on last year's £73.3bn settlement. The 2010-11 grants include:
2. Council tax level statistics published today can be found at: http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/counciltax201011.
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