"Council tax bills will rise for millions to pay for social care"

[dutchman]

‘Double whammy’ for families as town halls expected to increase levies by at least 5pc as they wait for National Insurance cash to kick in


Clive Betts, the Labour MP for Sheffield South East, said council tax bills would have to rise

Council tax bills will have to rise for millions of households next year to pay for social care despite Boris Johnson's tax raid, ministers fear.

This would mean families facing a "double whammy" of tax hikes as the 1.25 percentage point increase in National Insurance is due to come into force at the same time as the council tax rises in April next year.

Town halls are likely to need extra cash because most of the money raised from the manifesto-busting increase goes to the NHS over the next three years before being diverted into social care in 2024. Ministers privately believe that average council tax rises of at least five or six percent will be levied next year to help meet the shortfall.

There are growing concerns amid Cabinet ministers that the National Insurance increase is just the first in a series of tax rises in the coming years that will undermine the Conservatives' chances of being re-elected.

One senior minister admitted the prospect of soaring council tax bills was "a worry", adding: "At the end of it all, people are going to ask themselves 'do they want the Government to level with them and be honest' or 'do they want a government that wrings its hands and does nothing'."

Another government source added: "There will be pressure but that is one of a number of factors. Some of the others are looking more positive than councils were telling us six months ago."

Clive Betts, Labour chairman of the Housing, Communities and Local Government committee, told The Telegraph: "Councils tax bills will have to rise because there is no other way for councils will be able to pay for social care. There is no social care plan and no social care money.

"The people who are going to be hit hardest by the council tax increases are the very people hit hardest by National Insurance increases. It is a double whammy in April."

Local authorities are able to charge an additional three per cent on top of council tax bills under legislation which was first unveiled by Sajid Javid, when he was local government secretary, in November 2016.

However, figures show that one in three of the councils that can charge the precept (52 out of 152) have not so far increased the precept to charge the full amount.

The Government's own NHS and social care plan published on Tuesday hinted that this council tax precept will have to increase because of a delay in the £5.4 billion earmarked for social care filtering through to local authorities.

The small print of the plan suggested that the cap on the precept could be increased above three per cent in the Chancellor's Budget and Spending Review at the end of next month.