05 September 2008
Future council tax bills will tell people how efficient their authority is, under proposals floated by the government this week.
A Department for Communities and Local Government consultation, launched on September 3, suggests that all bills should include the efficiency savings the council has made.
Information accompanying the bill would also give the average level of savings achieved by similar councils.
Local government minister John Healey said councils had a good track record in generating efficiency savings, but involving local taxpayers would spur them on. The government has demanded £5bn in efficiency savings from councils over the next three years — worth an average of £184 per Band D council tax bill.
Healey said: 'I accept this is a big challenge but am confident it can be achieved — particularly if council taxpayers are involved. They rightly expect improving services and better value for money and should be entitled to know how their council is performing when they receive their bill on their doormat.'
Under the proposals councils will be expected to tell households the savings they expect to have made in the previous financial year, as a proportion of council spending, and how the saving translates to a reduction on the Band D bill.
They will also be required to show the actual saving made in the financial year two years before the bill, as well as average projected savings by similar types of council.
DCLG said this information would give taxpayers the information they needed to challenge their councils and hold them to account if they were performing poorly.
The consultation ends on October 16.
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