2023 Charges explained and how to access help

• Why the Council agreed to increase Council Tax 
• What you should do if you can't afford to pay
• What extra support we are providing to households on a low income
• Paying for the increase for Adult Social Care even if you don't use the service
• Paying the Parish precept
• What Council Tax pays for
• Why Council Tax has increased by more than the amount allowed under the referendum principles
• Why the Council can't make more savings

Why the Council agreed to increase Council Tax 

Each year the Council is faced with significant cost pressures. This is mainly caused by demographic pressures and an increasingly elderly population which puts pressure on our social care costs as well as inflationary cost pressures affecting pay and the cost of goods and services.

In addition to this it has to contend with continuing reductions in Government funding, contributing with an overall budget gap in 2023/24 of £24.86m.The detailed proposals contained in the Budget report close the 2023/24 budget gap of £24.86m via the following measures:

• Additional funding from Council Tax of £5.69m;
• Income generation and Service delivery savings £11.76m;
• Use of reserves from prior year Business Rates benefits and a one-off distribution from Greater Manchester Combined Authority totalling £3.62m;
• Use of general reserves £3.79m for the remaining gap.

The additional funding from Council Tax of £5.69m will be achieved by a 4.99% increase in council tax and a higher taxbase.

This decision to increase council tax has been made following a number of consultations with stakeholders, staff and Scrutiny Members on how to fund the budget gap.

In each of the years between 2016/17 and 2023/24, the Council accepted the offer made by the Secretary of State to charge the additional Adult Social Care Precept:

• 2% for 2016/17
• 3% for 2017/18
• 2% for 2018/19
• 1% for 2019/20
• 2% for 2020/21
• 3% for 2021/22
• 1% for 2022/23
• 2% for 2023/24

An accumulated figure of £201.33 is included in the Council Tax figure of £1,876.76 for a Band D equivalent property.

In 2023/24 in addition to the 2.0% (£29.06 for a Band D equivalent property) increase for adult social care the Council has also agreed to increase the ‘basic’ level of council tax by 2.99% (£43.44 for a Band D equivalent property). This increase is below the Government’s referendum threshold of 5.0%.

Without these two Council Tax increases additional income and savings of £5.69m would be required to balance the budget on top of the £11.76m already identified. However, it is considered that this would not be achievable without seriously damaging key Council services. 

What you should do if you can't afford to pay

The Council has one of the most generous council tax support schemes in Greater Manchester and pays up to 100% of the Council Tax to anyone who qualifies. To apply for council tax support you should complete the new claim form.

There are also other support schemes and advice available for anyone struggling financially. Details of how to access the schemes and where to contact for advice can be found on the Trafford Directory | Support with money matters page.

What extra support we are providing to households on a low income

The Government provided some additional funding to help vulnerable households pay Council Tax. The money in Trafford will be used to award any household that qualifies for council tax support up to an additional £125 if they have anything to pay. This means that of the households who receive council tax support, 81% now have nothing to pay at all. 

 The Council are also providing financial support to its Trafford Community Hubs who provide a range of support for local residents, including Trafford Living Rooms which are free community spaces available throughout Trafford.

Paying for the increase for Adult Social Care even if you don't use the service

Council Tax is not used on its own to pay for particular types of service. It is part of a larger revenue funding stream that includes business rates, Government grants and reserves which are all pooled together to pay for the Council’s total net revenue budget of approximately £209m. It therefore helps to pay for all services which councils provide, such as education, refuse collection and street lighting, as well as adult social care.

For Trafford the Adult Social Care budget has been increased in 2023/24 by £4.0m in order to pay for:

• an increase in Client numbers (due to an ageing population)
• an increase in the costs and types of care
• a projected increase in the number of hospital discharges
• investment in market sustainability through increased rates paid to providers
• increased care staff costs as a result of the continued increase in the National Living Wage.

Paying the Parish precept

As a resident of a Parish that has agreed to set a precept, the additional Council Tax is payable on top of the Council’s main precept including the amounts for the Mayoral Police & Crime Commissioner and the Mayoral General Precept (including Fire Services).

• Partington Parish Council has done this for 2023/24 at £52.04 per Band D property (no change since 2022/23)
• Warburton Parish Council has done this for 2023/24 at £50.00 per Band D property (no change since 2022/23)
• Carrington Parish Council has done this for 2023/24 at £30.00 per Band D property (no change since 2022/23)

What Council Tax pays for

More information on how we spend council tax. Trafford Council collects the council tax on behalf of itself, any Parish Councils as well as the Mayoral Police & Crime Commissioner and the Mayoral General Precept (including Fire Services).

The breakdown is as follows:

• 81.3% is collected on behalf of Trafford Council
• 13.0% goes to the Mayoral Police & Crime Commissioner
• 5.7% goes to the Mayoral General Precept (including Fire Services)
• An extra amount for your Parish where applicable. 

Council Tax income collected on behalf of the Council helps to fund the following key Trafford services:

Children’s Social Services

• 2,945 children in receipt of children’s safeguarding services
• 478 periods of children being in the care of the local authority
• 405 Child Protection plans

Adult Social Services, including Public Health

• Supports over 4,810 residents with a care package
• Provides over 7,645 services to service users
• Provides over 879,708 hours of external home care support
• Supports over 1,575 residents through Stabilise and Make Safe (reablement)
• Supports over 514 residents through Discharge to Assess (preventing Delayed Transfers from Acute Beds)

Place

• Maintains over 830km of roads and 1,190km of footpaths and cycle lanes
• Maintains over 27,500 lampposts and 4,500 items of illuminated street furniture
• Responsible for 18,000 highway trees and 50,000 trees within public parks and open spaces
• Collects approximately 86,000 tonnes of waste from more than 100,000 households, undertaking over 10 million collections every year
• Supports and regulates over 5,000 premises for food, health and safety, trading standards, pollution and licensing
• Carries out over 1,500 pest control treatments in homes, schools and businesses across the borough
• Supports approximately 300 people in Trafford into employment via the Trafford Pledge, Working Well, and other employment programmes
• A laptop loan scheme which has seen almost 208 laptops provided to residents who don’t have access to their own equipment
• Provision of ESOL assessments for over 800 people in the borough to help them access work and training
• Assists over 466 households to find and secure affordable housing through the Council’s Housing Register
• Maintains 60 parks and green space, including 11 at Green Flag standard
• Manages parking restrictions on street and off street across the borough
• Supports 844 business with Business Relief Grants
• Provides housing advice and assistance to over 71,776 households
• Prevents over 311 households from becoming homeless
• Enables the development of 219 new affordable homes across the borough
• Determines over 3,500 planning applications

Strategy & Resources, Finance & Systems, and Governance & Community Strategy

• The Council continues to collect 97 per cent of Council Tax remaining the highest collection rate in GM which supports the Council’s financial resources
• The Council’s customer contact service receives approximately 180,000 telephone enquiries a year. In 2022/23, the Contact Centre target is to answer 70 per cent of telephone calls within 30 seconds
• The Catering Service serves on average 14,088 meals per day, over 2.68 million meals per year
• The authority has one crematorium and five cemeteries, and the service undertakes approximately 1,700 cremations and 600 burials per year
• Waterside, Trafford’s award-winning destination for performance, culture and events, welcomed over 49,000 visitors in 2021/22
• 170 professional and 34 local non-professional productions took place at the venue
• Over 1,000 residents attended our participatory and creative learning events
• 22,301 people attended our ticketed performances
• Trafford Music Service engage over 5,600 primary age pupils per year through the whole class First Access programme
• Over 10,000 people visited our Postman Pat: Welcome to Greendale free exhibition
• Creative Industries Trafford; our professional development project for artists and creatives engaged with 80 artists and saw over 400 people participate in our professional development events
• Provision of the Council’s in-house professional services of HR, Legal, IT & Finance

Why Council Tax has increased by more than the amount allowed under the referendum principles

The Localism Act 2011 abolished council tax capping and replaced it with a requirement to hold a council tax referendum if an authority wishes to increase its “Relevant Basic Amount of Council Tax” by an amount equal to or exceeding a level set out by the Government.

In relation to the financial year 2023/24 the Secretary of State has determined a referendum principle of 5 per cent (comprising 2 per cent for expenditure on adult social care and 3 per cent for other expenditure), for adult social care authorities, such as Trafford. These authorities may therefore set council tax up to this percentage in 2023/24 without holding a referendum.

In 2023/24 in addition to the 2.0% (£29.06 for a Band D equivalent property) increase for adult social care the Council has also agreed to increase the ‘basic’ level of council tax by 2.99% (£43.44 for a Band D equivalent property). This increase is below the Government’s referendum threshold of 5%.

Trafford Council also collects precepts on behalf of the Mayoral Police and Crime Commissioner and the Mayoral General Precept (including Fire Services). A separate referendum level is set for Mayoral Police and Crime Commissioner at a maximum of £15.00 in 2023/24, however there is no referendum limit for Mayoral General Precept (including Fire Services).

A comparison of the components of the Band D Council Tax, showing the movement between 22/23 and 23/24 

Why the Council can't make more savings

The Council has already delivered £171.1m of savings and efficiencies over the last 12 years. It is currently on target to deliver a further £4m in 2022/23 and proposals are already in place to achieve further substantial savings in 2023/24 of £11.76m through efficiencies, service delivery model changes and by working in partnership with other public and private sector agencies.

These Council savings have helped to bridge budget gaps each year between 2010/11 and 2023/24 as a result of reduced funding and cost pressures totalling £288.25m of which £171.6m has already been met from efficiencies, income and policy choices. This has been no easy challenge for a low funded, low tax authority like Trafford. The Council still needs to make difficult decisions about services it provides to balance its decreasing budget.

However, although the Council is committed to delivering value for money services and a low council tax, it is considered that without the increase the Council would not be able to achieve a sustainable balanced budget without seriously damaging key Council services.

Despite the proposal to increase council tax by 4.99% in 2023/24, Trafford will still maintain lower than the Greater Manchester average council tax rates. Currently, Trafford has the second lowest across all Greater Manchester Authorities.

As can be seen in the table below, if Trafford was to increase council tax by 4.99% whilst all other GM authorities remained static, Trafford would still remain the second lowest. If Trafford raised its Council Tax to the average of GM neighbours (£1,658) this would raise an additional £15.87m per annum.

Despite the proposal to increase council tax by 4.99% in 2023/24, Trafford will still maintain lower than the Greater Manchester average council tax rates. Currently, Trafford has the second lowest rate across all GM Authorities and would remain the second lowest if Trafford increased council tax by 4.99% whilst all other authorities remained static.