Nine in ten county councils will have to raise council tax by the maximum permitted, the County Council Network (CCN) has warned.
A survey of the CCN’s 37 members has revealed that 85% say they are now in a worse position than before the Autumn Budget and Local Government Finance Settlement.
Over 90% of the respondents said they will have to raise council tax by the maximum permitted (4.99%) and several will have to cut services more significantly in 2025/26.
The CCN said this was because of increases in the National Living Wage and National Insurance contributions, but it also accused the Government of ‘cherry picking’ which councils it supports.
The association said the new £600m Recovery Grant is ‘heavily targeted’ towards urban councils in the North and Midlands to the disadvantage of county authorities, which have also been hit hard by the removal of the £100m Rural Services Delivery Grant for 2025/26.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) said: 'We will be giving £69bn in funding for England’s councils, which is a 6% cash terms increase in councils’ Core Spending Power on 2024-25. No council will see a decrease in their Core Spending Power, with the majority seeing a marked real terms increase compared to 2024-25 when we confirm the exact numbers for each council next week. This is all part of an uplift of more than £5bn in guaranteed funding for local government this year for local services.'
