Rate of increase in council tax slows

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.