Council Tax

The Council sets the amount of Council Tax you pay, it helps pay for local services such as education and social services. The amount set depends on how much the Council and certain other public bodies (such as the police and Fire Service) spend and how much money they get from other places. The amount charged (before any reductions) also depends on which valuation band each property is in.

Each council is responsible for collecting Council Tax from all households in their area.

You will normally receive your annual Council Tax bill in March. It will tell you how much you have to pay and how that amount has been worked out. The bill will also set out the amount of each instalment and the dates when payment should be received. Payment is due once a month from April through to January inclusive. Normally, you will be offered 10 instalments, however if you would like your instalments extended until March please complete the Council Tax enquiries online form.

How your money is spent

Following a period of consultation, the Council agreed the budget report 2024-25 at Full Council. The report details the Council's spending plans and explains how we intend to use all of the revenue for the year ahead. Appendix 5 of the budget report has a breakdown of how the revenues budget is divided up.

Revenue spending on Council Services will total £868 million during 2024-25. A total of £692m of this spending will be funded from a combination of grants, business rates, and fees and charges. This leaves a total of £1764m to be met from Council Tax. The budget also includes £158 million of capital spending.

Adult Social Care funding

The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government made an offer to adult social care authorities. (“Adult social care authorities” are local authorities which have functions under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014, namely county councils in England, district councils for an area in England for which there is no county council, London borough councils, the Common Council of the City of London and the Council of the Isles of Scilly.)

The offer was the option of an adult social care authority being able to charge an additional “precept” on its council tax without holding a referendum, to assist the authority in meeting its expenditure on adult social care from the financial year 2016-17. It was originally made in respect of the financial years up to and including 2019-20. If the Secretary of State chooses to renew this offer in respect of a particular financial year, this is subject to the approval of the House of Commons. As part of the Local Government Financial Settlement 2024/25 the Government announced that adult social care authorities could charge up to an additional 'precept' of 2% for 2024/25.