Council Tax Explained

A while ago Michael Cottrell raised a question on the Haddenham dotNet Facebook page about the Buckinghamshire Council Tax bill. The Adult Social Care charge was shown as increasing by around 2% whereas in comparison to last years bill the increase seemed to be around 25%. I queried this with BCC and they have provided the following:

Mr Bullimore,
Thank you for your query regarding the presentation of you Council tax bill from Buckinghamshire Council.

I fully appreciate that the presentation is prone to cause confusion, and I will do my best to explain why;

There are 2 sets of legislation involved in this issue.

The Council tax setting legislation allows us to increase the total Buckinghamshire Council tax by an amount for 'normal Council Tax' and an additional amount for the Adult Social Care precept. This year we have increased the 'basic Council Tax' by 1.99% and the Adults Social care precept by 2%, giving a total increase of 3.99%. This can be checked by adding together the 2 elements of Buckinghamshire Council Council Tax from last year and this year and then calculating the change.

However the Council Tax billing legislation requires that we present the basic Council Tax and the Adult Social Care precept as separate lines. It also requires us to report the agreed percentage uplift for the Adults Social Care precept against this line. Since the 2% increase in the Adults Social Care precept is calculated on the whole of the Council Tax payable to Buckinghamshire Council, and not just the Adult Social care element from the previous years bill, the calculated percentage in just this element does come out as 25%.

As I say, we do appreciate that this presentation is confusing, and this is a national issue which all Councils have to deal with. I can assure you that we have set Council Tax within the requirements of that legislation, and the bills are presented in accordance with the billing legislation.

Further information on this can be found on our website.

The Adult Social Care precept | Buckinghamshire Council

Matt Strevens
Head of Corporate Finance
Resources Directorate Buckinghamshire Council

01296 383181
07799 470044

Matthew.Strevens@Buckinghamshire.gov.uk
Walton Street Offices, Walton Street, Aylesbury, HP20 1UA