News

Council tax payments will rise by an average 5.9 per cent in the coming financial year, the government has confirmed. It is less than half last year's average increase.

Local government minister Nick Raynsford said the government would tell councils by the end of April if they were to be capped.

But Dennis Reed, chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit, said councils increased taxes only "to meet Whitehall diktats" on schemes such as children's services reform, which were not fully funded centrally.