Exposed: The councils quietly raising tax by more than 300pc

Telegraph

21-07-2025

Voters in rural England are being hit with a 'local stealth tax' which has seen parish and town council levies quadruple overnight.
Across the country, householders are facing huge increases in the amount parishes are charging because cash-strapped district councils are stopping funding services they have run for years.
This means parish councils are forced to step in and provide these services, which include vital amenities such as public toilets and parks.
But while the amount that districts can increase council tax is capped, there is no cap for parish councils, meaning some areas have seen eye-watering increases.
In April, a total of 11 parishes increased their council tax precepts by more than 300 per cent.
In Waverley, South Yorkshire, it rose from £63.47 a year in 2023-24 to £288.46 in 2024-25.
The highest parish council tax increase was Wharton in Westmorland, where the precept went up by 1,783 per cent from £1.67 to £31.45.
Elliot Keck, head of campaigns at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said councils were devolving services such as public toilets and CCTV because they could no longer afford to fund them without breaching the council tax cap.
He said the government should impose a cap on parish council tax increases, just as there is for higher bodies.
'Parish precepts are set to be just the latest stealth tax squeezing household budgets, if funding pressures in local government continue,' he said.
'Most town councils are uncontroversial bodies, operating important amenities for what is a small charge on top of council tax bills. But more and more, we are seeing local taxpayers hit by extraordinary hikes in what they're charging, on top of increases at the other levels of local government.
'The government should be consulting on a referendum cap to be placed on parish precept rises to ensure residents aren't hit by surprise bills which they had no say on.'
The charge made by parish and town councils – the lowest tier of local government – is added as a 'precept' onto the district's council tax bills.
County and unitary councils have their bills capped at 5 per cent, while districts cannot increase their bills by more than 3 per cent.
But there is no cap for parish and town councils, which provide services such as allotments, village halls, parks, litter bins and public toilets.
In Somerset, cost-cutting measures have led to sharp increases in parish council precepts.
Facing £35 million in budget cuts, the county council announced the devolution of services to town and parish councils.
They withdrew funding for public toilets, CCTV, visitor centres and other local amenities and asked parish councils to cover the costs.
Yeovil parish council precept rose 90 per cent from £145 to £276, and Taunton's by 173 per cent from £110 to £299 in 2024-25.
Meanwhile, Somerset Council increased their council tax, excluding parish precept, by 4.99 per cent in 2024-25.
Similar cuts were made by Wiltshire in 2019. It had to make £27 million in savings, forcing Chippenham parish council to take on services and increase its parish precept by 40 per cent.
These services included a large historic park, a community and arts centre and some small play areas. The parish also took on more road sweeping duties.
Chippenham was forced to institute a parish precept rise of 38 per cent in 2019-20.
Shadow communities secretary Kevin Hollinrake said: 'The Labour Government is forcing up council tax across the board through their fiddled funding.
'Parish councils have had no compensation at all from Rachel Reeves's job tax, leading to a double whammy of soaring council tax on top.
'Labour's flawed plans for top-down unitary restructuring also threaten to lead to cost shunting from the old councils down to parish level, cooked up in Whitehall but with town and parish councils to take the blame.'
A spokesman for the Wharton parish council said its increase was so high because of an administrative error the year before.