Residents of county and rural regions will face ‘maximum council tax rises’ under the Government’s fair funding reforms, the County Councils Network (CCN) has warned.

According to research by the CCN, taxpayers could be ‘shouldering the burden’ of the Government’s reforms, helping to subsidise rising service costs and demand.

While analysis proposes that outcomes will be ‘better than feared’ for rural areas, CCN Chairman Cllr Tim Oliver said the redistribution of funding to urban areas ‘place[s] a disproportionate burden on council taxpayers in county areas to fund local services’.

The research found that while some 22 rural and county unitary authorities are to receive £845m worth of grant funding increases, 16 authorities will see funding slashed by £470m.

‘Overall, without council tax rises of 5% over the next three years, the analysis shows that 33 of the 38 county and rural unitary authorities would see a real-terms reduction in funding’, said the CCN.

To ensure local council tax is not ‘unfairly’ shifted to urban regions, the CCN is urging the Government to reconsider council tax equalisation proposals, while boosting funding for county and rural areas to protect against ‘unsustainable’ service cuts.

Cllr Oliver said: ‘Reforms to the way council funding is distributed are long overdue, and we welcome the Government’s proposals for new formulae for distributing funding for adult social care and home to school transport.’

He added: ‘Those facing cuts in Government funding will inevitably have to reduce vital frontline services, while the reliance on council tax rises leaves even those with modest funding increases facing an extremely challenging funding outlook.

‘There is still time for government to rethink this and reduce the pressure on county taxpayers. It is simply unrealistic to expect some of England’s largest social care authorities to provide life critical services while receiving deep cuts in Government grant over the next three years. It is therefore vital the Government makes more money available to further mitigate the impact of these reforms.’