Barnet has become the latest London borough to ask the Government for permission to raise council tax far beyond the usual annual limit, as it faces a £200 million hole in its budget.
The Labour-run council is in talks with ministers about exceeding the 5% cap normally placed on yearly rises.
To balance its books, it says bills would need to increase by 32% – roughly £500 a year for an average Band D property either in one go or spread across several years.
Another London borough seeks Government permission to significantly hike council tax
Council tax rises are usually limited to 5% annually, combining a general increase with a separate adult social care levy. Barnet wants an “exceptional” increase because it says ordinary savings and cost controls cannot close its budget gap.
The borough has the largest projected shortfall of any London council. It has already relied on £135 million of emergency Government loans over the past two years to avoid effective bankruptcy.
Barnet says the pressure comes chiefly from adults’ and children’s social care, plus the cost of temporary accommodation for homeless families.
The council has London’s oldest population, with one in seven residents aged 65 or over, and care for older people accounts for around a third of its £544 million annual budget.
Simon Radford, Barnet’s cabinet member for financial sustainability, said the council faced “very painful decisions” and needed to find £200 million of savings or cost avoidance within three years.
He argued that local levers alone cannot meet the rising demand for statutory services without national policy intervention.
Other boroughs in the same position
Barnet is not alone. Lambeth and Bromley are also understood to be in discussions with ministers about permission to raise council tax beyond the standard cap.
Five other London authorities – Wandsworth, Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham, Westminster and the City of London are expected to face even sharper increases from April after changes to central government funding.
London boroughs currently seeking funding changes
- Barnet is seeking permission for a 32% rise, about £500 for average Band D homes
- Lambeth is in talks with Government; predicts a £130 million budget gap by 2029/30
- Bromley is in talks with Government; expects £30.5 million real-terms funding loss by 2028/29
- Wandsworth has said bills will rise by 94%, or £958 for an average Band D property, from April
- Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham, Westminster, City of London face at least doubling council tax from April after funding changes
Wandsworth, currently the lowest-taxing council in the country, is the clearest example: its proposed 94% rise would take it to roughly average levels nationally.
A Government spokesperson said it had consulted extensively on reforming an “outdated” council funding system so money goes where it is most needed, adding that transitional arrangements would protect councils from a “cliff edge”.
What it means for Barnet residents
For Barnet households, nothing has been confirmed yet. The council must still secure Government approval and set its budget, meaning the final size and timing of any increase remain uncertain.
