Some 85% of the 139 top-tier authorities in England are planning or proposing a rise just short of 5% – the threshold that would trigger a local referendum in normal circumstances, the PA news agency reported.
Those councils – Bradford, Newham, Windsor and Maidenhead, Birmingham, Somerset and Trafford – were not given the full amount they requested.
Based on trends in recent years, it is unlikely that a council tax rise proposed by senior councillors will be rejected by full council at this late stage of the budget process.
Which councils will avoid the maximum rate increase?
Just 15 councils are planning increases below 4.99%.
They include 4.98% in Barnet, north London, and Warrington, Cheshire.
South Tyneside and Stockton-on-Tees have both opted for 4.95%, while Torbay is set for 4.75% and Wiltshire is at 4.50%.
Kensington & Chelsea in London will see a 4% rise, while Doncaster in South Yorkshire is at 3.99%, North East Lincolnshire at 3.98%, Essex at 3.75%, Rotherham in South Yorkshire at 3%, and Lincolnshire at 2.99%.
Wandsworth in south London will stay at 2%.
In the East Midlands eight of the region’s ten councils have opted for the maximum rise, while nine out of 10 have hit this threshold in eastern England.
Newham, which has been given permission to increase council tax by 8.99%, has blamed rising homelessness and the soaring costs of temporary accommodation for its decision to implement one of the biggest increases to the levy in England.
Warrington chose a 4.98% increase and Trafford in Greater Manchester has been granted permission for a rise of 7.49%.
Apart from Birmingham, which has been given permission to raise council tax by 7.49%, all 13 upper-tier councils in the West Midlands which have disclosed their plans opted for a 4.99% increase.
The Government’s figure of a 6.8% overall increase in councils’ spending power in 2026-26 assumed all councils would increase council tax to 4.99%.
Council leader Simon Hogg said: “Sound financial management is at the heart of everything we do.
Confirming what is currently the second lowest proposed increase in council tax in England of 2.99%, Lincolnshire leader Martin Hill questioned why some councils are permitted to raise council tax beyond the referendum threshold.
“We have always done the right thing at the county council. We have lived within our budget, kept our council tax low and it is a bit frustrating that other councils can’t seem to manage to do that at the same time we live within our means.”
The think tank identified that this share of income was three times more than the 1.5% spent by the richest fifth.
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