Council tax is set to rise by an average of £72 a year across England and Wales, according to a survey published yesterday.
Around England, local councils say they are paying the price for government underfunding of town and county halls, which receive, on average, threequarters of their budgets from Whitehall and only a quarter from the council tax.
Steve Freer, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, which has undertaken an annual survey of council tax levels, said the government's annual grant to councils was set to rise by just over 4%, whereas authorities needed at least 5% to make ends meet. This had led to a shortfall of £1.4bn, or 8.1%.
He added: "As ever, councils are trying to balance two competing objectives - striving to keep the local tax down, and on the other hand, facing pressure to invest in service improvements."
Councils were having to make "significant increases" in social services budgets, partly because of pressure from the NHS to cut waiting lists.
As usual, partly because of the complexities of the Whitehall spending formula, there are wide variations within and between regions. Liverpool, for instance, is cutting its Band D level by 3% while neigh bouring Sefton is putting its up by 9%.
Nick Raynsford, local government minister, said yesterday the government had increased grants to local councils by 20% over the last five years.
Durham county council said it had been hammered by an arbitrary government spending formula that distributes Whitehall's annual grant to local councils.
This means that the tax for the typical band D property in Sedgefield will rise by 14% to £1,048.67 from next month - more than double the level in the London borough of Wandsworth.
Band D highs and lows
Counties
Durham: 14.8% (£825.55)*
East Sussex: 4.9% (£777.69)
Metropolitan districts
Sefton: 9.1% (£1,087.15)
Liverpool: 3% (£1,136.39)
Unitary councils
Blackpool: 17.3% (£950.89)
Redcar and Cleveland: 2.5% (£1,107.93)
London boroughs
Brent: 9% (£877.84)**
Wandsworth: 11.7% (£402.56)
*Excludes district council rate
**Provisional
