No final decision on size of planned Somerset council tax increase

By Local Democracy Reporter Daniel Mumby

Somerset residents will face higher council bills in the spring – but no final decision has been made on how much they will increase.

Somerset Council is in detailed negotiations with central government as it moves to set its budget in late-February, with officers seeking a third consecutive year of exceptional financial support in order to close a £73m budget gap.

Conservative opposition leader Councillor Diogo Rodrigues claimed that the council had asked the government to let it increase council tax by “more than 20 per cent” last financial year and had requested an increase of “around ten per cent” for the coming financial year.

Council leader Bill Revans responded that these were “illustrative figures” and no formal request for such an increase had been made.

Like other unitary authorities in England and Wales, Somerset Council legally cannot raise its council tax level by more than 4.99 per cent without staging an expensive referendum.

Of this 4.99 per cent, two per cent is ring-fenced for spending on adult social care, while the other 2.49 per cent can be spent on any council services.

In 2024/25, the council was granted an exception allowing for a 7.49 per cent rise in bills.

Council leader Bill Revans (who represents the North Petherton division) stressed that decisions with central government were still ongoing and described Mr Rodrigues’ comments as “unhelpful”.

He said, “I would like to be very clear that, even though we did increase council tax above the referendum levels last year, we are still significantly less than the unitary average.

“We are still significantly less than our neighbouring councils in Dorset, Cornwall, Devon and Wiltshire, and that is because of the historic decisions made by legacy councils to freeze council tax from 2010 to 2016 – and that means we are a financial emergency of having to close that gap.

“Our finances do still remain fragile, and we are in discussions with central government around further exceptional financial support for this year.”

Picture: Somerset Council leader, Cllr Bill Revans