By Lucy Phillips
23 March 21011
No council in England will put up their council tax in the next financial year, the government said today.
Some 378 authorities have frozen their council tax for 2011/12 while 43 have marginally reduced it. The average Band D council tax will remain unchanged from last year at £1,439, according to government figures.
It is the first time all English local authorities have frozen or reduced council tax since its introduction in 1993/94.
The freeze comes after the government set up a £650m incentive fund to compensate authorities for not increasing the tax. Every council will now receive a grant equivalent to a below-inflation 2.5% rise in their council tax.
Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles said: ‘Tackling public debt is our highest priority but we are determined to protect hard-working families and pensioners who have been squeezed for too long. This is about giving real and immediate help to families struggling with the daily cost of living.
‘As well as special funding that has ensured councils freeze their bills, the government has scrapped a council tax revaluation and in the future residents themselves will have the right to veto excessive increases in local referendums.’
