Quarter of councils agree to freeze or cut Council Tax this year
Just one in four have taken up the Government grant to help keep a lid on bills over 2015/16.
More than 100 local authorities in England have agreed to freeze or lower their Council Tax charges this year.
New figures from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) revealed 114 councils will take up a Government grant in order to keep a lid on bills.
The Government has earmarked £275 million for authorities that promise to freeze or cut their Council Tax charges in the next financial year.
Just eight local authorities - the Greater London Authority, Hammersmith & Fulham, Windsor & Maidenhead, Cotswold, East Staffordshire, Shepway, South Holland and Uttlesford - plan to use the money to lower Council Tax charges, while 106 will use the money to freeze bills for households.
The Government says it has provided savings worth up to £1,100 for the average band D bill payer with five successive years of Council Tax grants, amounting to £5 billion. It claims this means Council Tax bills have been kept down by 11% in real terms since 2010.
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Councils sitting on enough cash to keep bills down
It’s unclear what the remaining local authorities, which rejected the grant, will decide to do when setting Council Tax charges for 2015/16.
But Government analysis shows that councils are sitting on £30 billion in reserves and uncollected income, which it suggests means it’s possible to maintain front line services and keep Council Tax charges down.
Council reserves were £21.4 billion at the end of 2013/14 up from £14.3 billion in 2010/11 - an increase of 50% in four years.
Over the same period councils failed to collect £2.5 billion of Council Tax arrears and lost £2.1 billion in fraud. Local authorities were also found to have assets worth £2.5 billion labelled as ‘surplus to requirements’.
Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles said there were more than enough “sensible savings” to be made before hardworking households should have to foot any more of the bill.
He added: “Reserves have rocketed up in the past few years and councils could be making better use of assets to keep taxes down and protect frontline services, while at the same time doing more to stop the billions they are losing to fraud and collecting more Council Tax arrears.”
However, the Local Government Association (LGA) said that keeping money in reserves was essential to protect services from future reductions in funding.
LGA Chair Councillor David Sparks said: "Reserves are all that stands between councils and financial collapse. With further cuts expected in the next Parliament along with ever-growing pressure on services, putting aside money for the difficult years ahead is prudent financial management."
Spending power reductions for local authorities this year averaged 1.7%, according to Government figures. The LGA estimates an 8.5% cut for 2015/16.
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More on Council Tax:
Council Tax rebanding: the risks
How to slash your Council Tax bill
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