Government rejects Cheshire East's request to increase council tax by nearly 10%

The Government has rejected Cheshire East Council's request to increase council tax by almost 10%.

The Council wrote to the government to request special permission to increase the council tax for the next financial year by just under 9.99%.

They applied to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government last month for permission to increase council tax above the 5% limit.

Local authorities can request exceptional financial support to hike council tax above the cap without the need for a public referendum.

A Cheshire East Council spokesperson said: "Cheshire East Council has been notified today (Monday, 3 February,) that a request for permission to consider raising council tax by up to 9.99 per cent for 2025-26, has been declined by Government.

"The council wrote to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in January, requesting permission under arrangements for exceptional financial support, to propose an increase above the 'referendum limit', as set out by government in the local government finance policy statement 2025 to 2026.

"The potential increase was requested as one of a range of possible measures that could be taken to ensure the council's forecast income aligns to forecast expenditure. All councils must, by law, set a balanced budget each year.

"The proposed budget sets out the council's forecast income and expenditure, with robust savings plans and proposals for the use of exceptional financial support from central government, to ensure that income will cover ongoing costs and future commitments in a sustainable and manageable way.

"The council's corporate policy committee is meeting on 6 February to discuss the proposed budget for 2025-26 and four-year financial strategy. The committee is asked to recommend the budget to council for approval at the council meeting on 26 February. This will include setting council tax for the year ahead.

"The final local government finance settlement: England, 2025 to 2026 has been published today. We are reviewing the latest information from government and will update financial plans as necessary. It will take some time to analyse all the detail."

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Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

Ryan Dance
Thursday 6th February 2025 at 9:44 pm
Wow. Common sense finally prevailed amongst our leaders and saviours.

For this reason alone… I congratulate our incompetent corrupt Westminster elite in rejecting this absurd legal theft attempt. A reckless, lazy attempt to continue their Utterly useless…failing ….fat cat ….bureaucrat ….inefficient ….ineffective authority.
Fran Kennerley
Friday 7th February 2025 at 8:13 am
Quite rightly so. Inept, wasteful council need to be held responsible for their (in)actions rather than just adopting the standard Public Sector mindset of simply holding their hand out for more money when they've overspent.
Pete Taylor
Saturday 8th February 2025 at 8:47 am
Interesting to see that Hampshire Council (Conservative since 1979) had their request for a 15% (fifteen) tax rise refused too.
Pete Wright
Saturday 8th February 2025 at 3:03 pm
Cheshire East were turned down because it was already considered expensive here relative to "similar councils". Only areas who the government thought were paying "less than comparable councils" were granted permission to raise taxes by more than the 5% limit.
So it's over to the CEC to sort the budget out, hopefully not use unsustainable emergency borrowing, or if they're unable they can issue a 114 notice, declare bankruptcy and produce a new budget for approval.

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