4.99 per cent council tax rise approved as Bucks Council ‘under pressure’

A 4.99 per cent council tax rise has been approved by Conservative-controlled Buckinghamshire Council amid ‘pressure’ on the authority’s budget.

The hike – the maximum allowed without a referendum – was voted through by councillors during a full council meeting on Wednesday afternoon.

Council leader Martin Tett said: “None of us want to raise council tax. We never forget that every penny we spend is council taxpayers’ money. It is not our money. It is their money.”

His comments came in a lengthy speech as he introduced the budget for 2025/26 to 2027/28.

Cllr Tett pointed to the even higher council tax rises at other local authorities such as Liberal Democrat-controlled Somerset and the Royal Borough Of Windsor and Maidenhead.

He added: “I would love to keep the bills as they are. The reality is that is just not possible. Increasing council tax is unavoidable.”

The leader said Bucks Council faced ‘inexorable’ budget pressures from four services, which between them now soak up 73 per cent of the council’s revenue budget.

These are children’s and adult’s social care, temporary accommodation and home to school transport, with costs for all four ‘enormous and growing, according to Cllr Tett.

Home to school transport has seen a 16 per cent increase in demand, with a budget of almost £40m a year as the demand for support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities increases.

Cllr Tett said: “Much of the cost in home to school transport is not mainstream children. It is the children with education, health and care plans.”

This year, the council has removed its contingency budgets to ‘offset pressures elsewhere in the budget’ and to reduce the level of other savings required to balance the budget.

Cllr Tett said: “That has dramatically increased the risk in this budget, and I am not hiding that from any member of this council or member of the public.”

The leader added: “To balance the budget we have had absolutely no option but to remove that contingency. I have done that incredibly reluctantly.”

During his speech, the leader also said there was an ‘enormous amount of turbulence’ across local government and the country as a whole and he blamed the policies of the new national government.

He hit out at Labour’s national insurance contributions rise, as well as the increases to inheritance tax and the national living wage.

The leader said the measures had ‘significantly impacted’ Buckinghamshire’s businesses and therefore revenue collection for council.

He explained the council would continue ‘lobbying’ the government and said the ‘solution to our budget lies with central government.’

Cllr Tett added: “This is a very difficult, tough budget, made much more difficult by the actions of this government.”