The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea has chosen to freeze “basic” council tax and has proposed a rebate for residents, amid the majority of upper-tier authorities raising the tax.
A budget report by the authority outlined that basic council tax will be frozen for 2023/24 but proposed a 2% rise to fund adult social care.
An addendum to the report also proposed that the authority will offer a one-off £100 payment to all households in bands A to D. This will cost the council an estimated £1.7m and will be funded by RBKC’s Covid-19 recovery/cost-of-living reserve.
The addendum said: “Agree to pay a rebate of £100 for the financial year 2023-24 to council taxpayers in Bands A-D who are not in receipt of Local Council Tax Support to help with the current cost-of-living pressures.”
The rebate and council tax proposals will be voted on at a full council meeting on 1 March.
This comes as new research by the County Councils Network found that three in four upper-tier local authorities are set to increase their council tax by the maximum amount this April due to rising inflation and large funding gaps.
In addition, the London Borough of Croydon has proposed to increase council tax by up to 15% in 2023/24 due to the authority’s “completely unsustainable” financial position.
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