10 per cent Council Tax rise to help social care ‘stand still’

New analysis from Age UK has found that Council Tax would have to rise by an average 10 per cent next year to allow social care just to ‘stand still’.

The charity has warned that increasing Council Tax to help increase funding for social care will lead to hugely inflated Council Tax bills in some areas and yet will still not give care services the assurance of enough money to function properly.

Instead, the government could provide the extra funds social care needs from central government coffers, rather than depending on the ability and willingness of local authorities to raise Council Tax even higher than it already is.   

The Care and Support Alliance has orchestrated a Day of Action to persuade Chancellor Rishi Sunak to give local authorities the extra funding they need in his Spending Review – but from central government funds, not a Council Tax hike. Council tax has already risen by 19 per cent in the past four years.

A rise of 10 per cent next year, just to raise £3.3 billion, would mean an average ‘band d’ household in England could be paying up to £180 more a year in Council Tax than previously. The IFS estimates that Council Tax increases in the richest ten councils could generate 45 per cent more per person than in the poorest tenth.

Additionally, the Prime Minister’s plan to ‘fix social care’ via a 1.5 per cent rise in National Insurance will see proceeds go almost exclusively to support the NHS, not social care.

A host of recent reports have evidenced the fragility of local care services; the lack of sufficient care staff; and the difficulties of local authorities in making insufficient funding ‘stretch’ to meet the needs of the increasing numbers of older and disabled people who are coming forward requiring help in their areas.

Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director of Age UK, said: “Our new analysis shows that even if you make local people pay a whopping additional 10 per cent in Council Tax – on top of the 19 per cent average rise we’ve seen in recent years – it still won’t give social care all the money it needs, and meanwhile this intensifies the postcode lottery which means older people have much more chance of getting a decent care service in some places, compared to others. Social care provision is too important to too many people for its fate to depend on local politics and local tax bases.   

“It’s down the Chancellor now, Rishi Sunak MP, to decide how much funding to give social care over the next few years, and from which sources, in his Spending Review. The stakes could not be higher: his decisions will determine whether social care services continue to wither and die, just about stand still or, more optimistically, get stronger over the next three years.   

“It was the Prime Minister who made the promise to give older people dignity in later life through his social care reforms - a fantastic goal - but it’s the Chancellor now, above all, who will determine whether we make progress towards it, or not. We are looking to him to do the right thing by supporting these vital services on which so many older people depend. The truth is that when it comes to social care Rishi Sunak could be a hero or a villain come Spending Review day – we just all so hope that it’s ‘the good guy’ we see.”