Swindon set for average monthly council tax increase of nearly £6

The average Swindon household faces a monthly Council Tax increase of £5.91 if councillors approve the authority's annual budget.

The figure represents an increase of 4.99 percent, which is the most the authority can impose without a public vote.
On Wednesday, 3 February, the council's Cabinet will discuss the proposed budget.
Cabinet Member responsible for Finance Cllr Russell Holland put the increase down to a lack of funding from central Government and the impact of the pandemic.
He said: "The situation we are in is in essence the situation that we've been in in previous years, in that we have a combination of a reduced grant from central Government and we have increased demand from vulnerable adults and children who need additional services.
"In respect of vulnerable adults this is large driven by the fact that more people are living for longer with more complex health conditions, and as such there is increased demand.
"The consequence of that is that there is more money required to provide those services, which in turn means that almost 80 percent of our budget is now spent on vulnerable adults and children.
"It is absolutely the right thing to do - to prioritise those people most in need. These are people who will have vision difficulties, hearing difficulties, who are unable to toilet themselves and do the very basics of life that we take for granted. But what it does mean is that most people to not see where their council tax is spent."
Another factor, Cllr Holland explained, was that organisations contracted by the council to provide services faced higher costs because of covid and well-deserved pay increases for staff.
"The average increase," he said, 'will be £5.91 per month. For most people on higher incomes this is not something that's likely to make a difference, but we appreciate that for some people on lower incomes who may be struggling financially, that will in some ways add to some of the day-to-day stresses that they face."
In defending the increase Cllr Holland also said councillors did not know what the ultimate effects of the pandemic were going to be, including so-called Long Covid.
He added: "Whilst I understand that people don't want to pay more tax, if I have to choose, am I going to get criticised for putting up council tax or am I going to potentially jeopardise services for the most vulnerable, well, I''l take the criticism any day of the week.
"That is the nature of public service sometimes."  
Agendas for all forthcoming council and committee meetings can be inspected via https://www.swindon.gov.uk/