Council Tax Set To Increase By 3.99% In East Riding

Councillors have agreed to increase the council’s part of the council tax charge in the East Riding by 3.99% for the 2020-21 financial year.

The increase, which was agreed at a Full Council meeting on 13 February, will raise £6.8million of additional income for the council and will result in an increase of £57.64 a year for a Band D property.

Alongside the increase in council tax, the local authority still needs to make savings of almost £5million from its 2020/21 budget to meet the growing costs of delivering its services.

The annual savings requirement is forecast to increase to £19.7million by 2023/24.

On top of the council’s charge, there will be additional charges from Humberside Police, Humberside Fire and Rescue Service as well as town/parish councils which are determined separately.

To help local authorities meet the continuing increases to the costs and demand for social care, the Government announced a package of funding measures for 2020-21 which included £1 billion nationally of additional social care funding plus an extra £0.5billion for adult social care which councils can raise through a 2% increase to council tax, on top of a limit of 2% on general increases to council tax.

Despite the additional funding, the costs of social care are still expected to exceed the funding available over the medium-term.

The Government has committed to cross-party talks to determine a long-term solution to the social care funding challenge and the Prime Minister has pledged to bring forward a plan to Parliament during 2020.

Announcing the increase in council tax, Councillor Richard Burton, leader of East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said:

“The financial challenge for local authorities is not over and we will continue to make savings and find new and innovative ways of delivering services.

“The budget for social care remains an on-going pressure and our demographic is changing due to an ageing population and a growing number of children with increasingly complex needs.

“But the council continues to support these services by using savings made across the authority, which shows an example of prudent and sound financial planning.

“This council has always been acknowledged as being financially well managed and continues to be as without getting the finances right, you simply can’t get anything right.”