Council tax hike for residents as 7.49% rise agreed

Somerset residents will have a larger increase in their council tax bills from next month, after councillors approved a 7.49% increase.

It comes after the authority was given special permission by the government to go above the usual 5% threshold, due to its risk of going effectively bust.

It will mean an extra £129 a year on the Somerset Council portion of the bill for people living in a Band D household, for the financial year from April.

Liberal Democrat council leader, Bill Revans, said: "The system of local government funding in this country is broken."

The government has previously said: "We are under no illusion of the state of council finances and have been clear from the outset on our commitment to get councils back on their feet."

Opposition councillors called it a "heartbreaking" budget with "red flags littered" throughout.

The 7.49% council tax increase will generate an extra £9m income for Somerset Council in 2025-26.

Somerset is one of six English councils being allowed to make the higher than usual increase.

Somerset Council has struggled with a budget gap between its income and what it's paying out, particularly on adult social care and children's services.

As the council tax increase will not raise enough money to fill the gap, the council will also be reliant on an extension of its "capitalisation direction" – a minister-approved scheme allowing it to sell assets or borrow money to fund day-to-day running costs.

In 2025-26 Somerset Council will be allowed to use £43m in this way.

The authority has also cut 555 jobs through a mix of voluntary and compulsory redundancies over past two years.

It says this 11% cut in the council's workforce will save £34m a year.

As well as Somerset Council's rise, some town and parish councils have brought in big increases in their shares of the bill, as they take over services from the larger authority.

Somerset Council says a typical Band D bill will go up £171 a year including police and fire precepts and an average of town and parish council increases.

Revans told the council's budget meeting: "You cannot sustain a system where adult social care is funded predominantly by council tax.

"We need to take responsibility to be able to lead Somerset, deliver for the residents of Somerset, and in the long-term make Somerset Council a sustainable authority we can all be proud of."

Opposition Conservative group leader, Mandy Chilcott, said she was against the 7.49% council tax rise which would "flood the people of Somerset with a wave of additional taxation".

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