The Government has written to billing authorities urging then to reconsider passing local council tax support on to parish and town councils.
The letter has been welcomed by the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) who warned that some billing authorities were failing to pass on funding.
The letter states: ‘The government's clear expectation is that billing authorities will work with parish and town councils to pass down funding so that increases in their precepts can be avoided.
‘However, some billing authorities are still not passing local council tax support funding on to parish and town councils and would urge them to reconsider.’
Chairman of NALC, cllr Sue Baxter, said: 'Ever since the localisation of council tax support was introduced in 2013/14, NALC has called for Government action to ensure funding intended for parish and town councils is passed on to them by billing authorities.
'While nearly all of the £40m earmarked by Government for parishes in 2013/14 was passed on to mitigate the impact of changes to their tax base, just £13m made its way to the first tier of local government last year to support the growing range of parish council services and I predict even less funding in 2018/19.’
