Local grants and tax system benefits poorest areas, says Pickles

14 Apr 11

England's richest areas pay the highest council tax per head, and poorer ones receive the most grant, the government has said in an effort to prove the system is fair

By Mark Smulian

14 April 2011

England’s richest areas pay the highest council tax per head, and poorer ones receive the most grant, the government has said in an effort to prove the system is fair.

Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has published tables of the council tax paid and formula grant received per head in each council area, which he said was ‘another step towards demystifying the council finance system for residents’.

The highest rates of council tax per head all arose in districts in southern England, with the exception of the affluent London Borough of Richmond.

Councils in inner London and Merseyside enjoyed the highest grant rates per head.

Pickles said February’s Local Government Finance Settlement had been structured so that the bulk of formula grant went to the areas most dependent on it, while those that collected more council tax received less.

He said: ‘No one likes paying council tax, given it has doubled since 1997. But the richest and most affluent areas of middle England already pay the highest council tax.

‘Despite the need to pay off the budget deficit, the new government has ensured fairness for all parts of the country – north and south, rural and urban, metropolitan and shire.’

The Local Government Association declined to comment on this claim.

Across England, some £26.5bn of council tax is collected at an average of £511 per head, as shown in the table published by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Another table shows how the £29.4bn of central grant for local government is distributed, at an average of £409 per head.

The department has also published maps that show counciltax per head and formulagrant funding per head.

The ten councils with the highest council tax per head: