A paper examined the technical and political issues raised by the potential re-localization of the national non-domestic rate in England.
Source: Tony Travers, Would it be Possible to Re-Localise the NNDR?, Local Government Association (020 7664 3000)
Links: Paper
Date: 2006-Dec
A report called for radical reform of the way in which local government was financed. This would include the creation of an independent 'public finance commission ('OFTAX'), to oversee and maintain a stable and sustainable local finance regime.
Source: A New Vision for Local Government Finance, Local Government Association (020 7664 3000)
Links: Report | LGA press release
Date: 2006-Dec
An organization representing local authorities in England and Wales appealed to central government to allow them to raise borrowing or use receipts from asset sales to fund equal pay settlements expected to total at least £3 billion. They warned that the alternative could be cuts to local services.
Source: Unblocking the Route to Equal Pay Settlements in Local Government, Local Government Association (020 7664 3000)
Links: LGA press release | FT report | Community Care report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2006-Nov
An organization representing local authorities in England and Wales said that further large increases in council tax were inevitable unless central government increased funding to meet new environmental regulations and to support care for the rapidly increasing numbers of elderly people. By 2009-10, up to 370,000 older people receiving free low-level care could have it withdrawn completely.
Source: Meeting the Challenges Ahead, Local Government Association (020 7664 3000)
Links: Report | Summary | LGA press release | Counsel and Care press release | FT report | Guardian report | BBC report | Community Care report
Date: 2006-Nov
The draft local government financial settlement in England for 2007-08 was announced, involving increases in central support of between 2.7 and 3.7 per cent. Increases in council tax would be limited to a maximum of 5 per cent. The government said that local councils should be able to manage their budgets within the new settlement, which it said made an allowance for inflation and improved services.
Source: Draft Local Government Finance Report 2007/08, Department for Communities and Local Government (0870 1226 236)
Links: Report | LGA press release | ACPO press release | Guardian report | BBC report | Community Care report
Date: 2006-Nov
The final report was published of an independent review committee on local government finance (chaired by Sir Peter Burt). It made proposals for a local property tax based on up-to-date property values. Assuming that the same amount of money would be raised as under the existing system, almost half of households would pay less and two-thirds would pay the same or less. The committee rejected all other options for local domestic taxation.
Source: A Fairer Way: Report by the Local Government Finance Review Committee, Scottish Executive, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Report | Committee press release | SE press release
Date: 2006-Nov
A report said that over 2 million households were estimated to be struggling to pay council tax, and consideration needed to be given to the negative impact of the tax on the government s drive to make work pay . People on low incomes were particularly badly hit, as a larger percentage of their earnings was spent on payments.
Source: Michael Orton, Struggling to Pay Council Tax: A new perspective on the debate about local taxation, York Publishing Services for Joseph Rowntree Foundation, available from York Publishing Services Ltd (01904 430033)
Links: Report | JRF Findings | JRF press release | DCLG statement | LGIU press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Sep
The government said that local authorities in England had delivered 1.2 billion of efficiency gains in 2005-06, on top of the 700 million they achieved in 2004-05. The total exceeded that predicted by councils at the start of the financial year.
Source: Press release 19 September 2006, Department for Communities and Local Government (020 7944 3000)
Links: DCLG press release | Community Care report
Date: 2006-Sep
A think-tank report said that local councils should be given greatly increased powers to raise and retain revenue, through a series of local taxes.
Source: Dick Sorabji, Pacing Lyons: A route map to localism - Forecasting the future shape of local governance, New Local Government Network (020 7357 0051)
Links: Summary | Regeneration & Renewal report
Date: 2006-Jul
A think-tank report said that the system of local business rates was outdated and in need of a radical overhaul. It called on the government to introduce a new 'green buildings' property tax relief to encourage businesses to cut the 'carbon footprint' of their properties.
Source: Theo Blackwell and Barney Gough, Turning Business Rates Green: How to make the uniform business rate fit for the future, Social Market Foundation (020 7222 7060)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Jul
The government announced that local authorities in England were on course to deliver a further 1.3 billion worth of efficiency gains in 2006-07, and were well on their way to achieving the target of 3 billion of efficiency gains by 2007-08.
Source: Press release 13 June 2006, Department for Communities and Local Government (020 7944 3000)
Links: DCLG press release | LGA press release
Date: 2006-Jun
An article examined the impact of changing the council tax bands on personal and local government finances. Increases in the number of bands would have little impact on the burden of the council tax compared with regular revaluations.
Source: Colin Jones, Chris Leishman and Allison Orr, 'The potential impact of reforms to the essential parameters of the council tax', Fiscal Studies, Volume 27 Issue 2, Institute for Fiscal Studies (020 7291 4800)
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Jun
The government published budget estimates of local authority revenue expenditure and financing in England for the financial year 2006-07. Budgeted net current expenditure was 100.5 billion, 5 per cent higher than in 2005-06: 37 per cent of this was on education, 18 per cent on social services, and 11 per cent on police - little different from the pattern of previous years. Budgeted revenue expenditure in 2006-07 was 91.4 billion: 25 per cent of this was to be raised through council tax, 27 per cent from formula grant, and 44 per cent from specific grants. The large changes in specific and formula grants, as compared to 2005-06, were largely due to changes in the way that expenditure on schools was funded.
Source: Local Authority Revenue Expenditure and Financing: England - 2006-07 Budget, Department for Communities and Local Government (0870 1226 236)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Jun
An article examined the potential impact of revaluing council tax bands in a sample area of 11 local authority areas in Scotland. While improving equity, a revaluation was found likely to create more disruption to local government, personal finances, and the housing market than revaluations within a tax system based on capital values.
Source: Colin Jones, Chris Leishman and Allison Orr, 'The revaluation of council tax bands: more than rearranging the deck chairs', Policy & Politics, Volume 34 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Apr
A report examined the costs to local authorities of administering housing and council tax benefit, and identified the main cost drivers.
Source: Michelle Boath, Ian Dunbar and Helen Wilkinson, Costs of Administering Housing and Council Tax Benefits, Research Report 332, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2006-Apr
A report provided an audit of the state of local democracy in two northern towns. Only 5 per cent of public spending in Burnley and Harrogate was controlled by the district councils concerned.
Source: Stuart Wilks-Heeg and Steve Clayton, Whose Town is it Anyway?: The state of local democracy in two northern towns, Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work Studies/University of Liverpool (0151 794 3012)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Mar
A government report examined the key achievements of the local government efficiency agenda. 760 million of efficiency gains had been reported in 2004-05; more than 1.1 billion of additional efficiency gains were expected in 2005-06; and regional centres of excellence had finalized their plans for further efficiency gains into the future.
Source: Delivering Efficiency In Local Services One Year On, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (0870 1226 236)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Mar
The government announced that the average council tax bill in England would rise from 1,009 to 1,056 in 2006-07, an increase of 4.7 per cent. Two local authorities were threatened with a cap on their spending.
Source: Press release 27 March 2006, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (020 7944 3000)
Links: ODPM press release | Statistical press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Mar
A survey of 100 locals councils found that council tax rates were likely to increase by 4 per cent on average in 2006-07.
Source: Press release 20 February 2006, Local Government Association (020 7664 3000)
Links: LGA press release | ODPM press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Feb
It was confirmed that local authorities in England would receive more than 62 billion in government grant in 2006-07 and 65 billion in 2007-08 - an increase of 4.5 per cent and 5.0 per cent in those years.
Source: , Press release 31 January 2006, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (020 7944 3000)
Links: ODPM press release | LGA press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jan
A report by a committee of MSPs said that collection of the proposed Scottish service tax would raise serious practical problems. (The tax would replace the council tax in Scotland with an income-based tax.)
Source: Stage 1 Report on the Council Tax Abolition and Service Tax Introduction (Scotland) Bill, 1st Report 2006, SP Paper 488, Scottish Parliament Local Government and Transport Committee, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Report | SP press release
Date: 2006-Jan