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Allowing 15% hike is ‘protecting Council Tax payers’ says Gove

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Inside Croydon’s petition to Parliament against the decision to allow councils, including Croydon, to increase Council Tax above the 5per cent cap without first conducting a referendum – as is usually required by law – achieved the 10,000-signature threshold on February 19.

At that point, the Government was obliged to provide a formal response to the petitioners.

The decision to allow Croydon to hike its Council Tax by 15per cent without a referendum was taken by the Department for Levelling Up, where the Tory Secretary of State is Michael Gove.

It took the Government 18 days to issue its response. The response eventually appeared after lunchtime on Thursday, less than 24 hours after Tory Mayor Jason Perry had bullied through his council budget, including his 15per cent Council Tax hike.

Obviously, just a coincidence.

Like it is a coincidence that Gove’s department has withheld all the reports from its improvement and assurance panel since December 2021, but we have been told to expect the release of at least one of those reports on Monday, two days after the deadline for councils to submit their “balanced” budgets.

Providing the response to the petition, in a superb example of Whitehall marking its own homework, was Gove’s Levelling Up department, the same people who had facilitated Mayor Perry’s budget-busting 15per cent Council tax hike.

Our petition made two core points.

“The public should not have to pay for a financial crisis which is not their fault through Council Tax increases above the 5per cent cap, unless these are approved through a public referendum.”

And, “Many people will be placed in dire financial circumstances during the cost of living crisis if their local authorities are allowed to raise Council Tax by more than 5per cent.”

The response admits that the Conservative Government has broken its manifesto commitment of “continuing to protect local taxpayers from excessive Council Tax increases”.

And they also say, “When taking decisions on Council Tax levels, local authorities should recognise the pressures many households are facing.” Which, obviously, Mayor Perry did not.

This is that Orwellian response in full:

The Government takes annual decisions on Council Tax referendum thresholds. The Government set higher thresholds for three councils which are in financial difficulty and asked for this flexibility.

Suits himself: Michael Gove

Decisions on local authorities’ tax and spending are a matter for local discretion, taken by local elected representatives, subject to the views of local people. The Government’s manifesto commits to continuing to protect local taxpayers from excessive Council Tax increases.

The Localism Act 2011 allows the House of Commons each year to set a threshold in relation to Council Tax increases, above which, a local authority in England must obtain the backing of local residents in a referendum to set a higher amount. The Council Tax referendum provisions are not a cap, nor do they force councils to set taxes at the threshold level.

The local government finance settlement confirmed referendum thresholds of up to 3per cent for core Council Tax and up to 2per cent for the adult social care precept in 2023-2024.

Following consideration of their exceptional local circumstances the Government decided not to oppose the request for additional flexibilities from a small number of authorities.

Legislation also requires councils to operate their own local Council Tax support schemes tailored to local requirements to assist people in financial hardship with their Council Tax.  The Government has announced £100million of additional funding for local authorities to support the most vulnerable households in England with their Council Tax bills in 2023-2024. This is in addition to the unringfenced funding provided through the settlement which helps to reduce bills for 3.8million claimants

This approach strikes a fair balance between providing authorities with the flexibility to generate income for local services and protecting Council Tax payers.

When taking decisions on Council Tax levels, local authorities should recognise the pressures many households are facing.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities

By today, the two separate petitions had attracted more than 42,000 signatures. That’s 10,000 signatures more than Jason Perry got votes in the Croydon mayoral elections last May.

The petitioning continues.

If we manage to get to 100,000 signatures on the parliamentary petition, it will get the matter of how the Tory Government has broken its manifesto commitment and how Croydon’s Tory Mayor has ignored the worst cost of living crisis in a generation discussed in Parliament.

Please sign the petitions – both of them. Please share them both widely.


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