Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he plans to take to ensure that people in local authority areas with a larger ageing population do not have to pay disproportionately higher council tax as a result of the social care precept.

Mr Marcus Jones

We have set the social care precept at a maximum of 2% for authorities with adult social care responsibilities. The council tax referendum principles remain in place, and are approved on an annual basis by the House of Commons. Any council tax rise above the overall threshold levels approved by the House must go to a binding referendum of the local electorate.