Councils are planning to raise taxes and cut local services after Government's spending squeeze

2016 could be a challening year for many local residents across the country, after English councils announced a possible rise of the council tax bills and cuts in several local services.

The budget meeting for the local councils will take place later in February, but many councillors are already warning that funding reductions from the Central Government will result to multi-million pound deficits for local communities.

Changes include a possible rise of council tax up to 3.99%, which is the maximum level permitted, as well as a rise of the adult social care insurance payment (premium), which means that council bills could go up by £47 a year for most Band D properties (the rating scale of the energy efficiency of a house – D is an average grade).

In addition, the reduction of the support grant from the Government to the councils might cause “deeper” cuts to a number of local services, including children's centres, short breaks for disabled children, bus subsidies, funding for theatres, museums, community gyms and projects encouraging people to stop smoking and preventing domestic violence. Also, charges for garden waste collections and bereavement services are set to rise in some areas.

It has also been revealed that over 25,000 jobs are under threat because of the cuts to services, while 15 district councils will see their central government grant withdrawn next year and 168 local authorities will have lost their full support grant by 2019/2020.

However, the Department for Communities and Local Government believes that council tax bills will be less at the end of David Cameron’s government, as now councils “will have almost £200 billion to spend on local services and they can plan their funding settlement with more certainty”.