Council Tax: Discounts
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of encouraging council tax discounts for residents in authorities without elections on 1 May 2025 due to participation in the Devolution Priority Programme.
Answered by Jim McMahon
The assumption is that elections in most places where scheduled will take place as planned. Where I take a decision to postpone elections scheduled for May 2025, this will be where the councils concerned have requested it alongside a clear commitment to delivering both reorganisation and devolution to the most ambitious timeframe. This is a high bar to reach and it is not expected that all councils who have applied to be on the priority programme will go forward as a result.
The terms of sitting councillors whose seats would otherwise have been up for election will be extended accordingly and they will remain in post, representing their community and taking decisions as members of their authority. Further, council services will continue as usual delivering hundreds of vital local public services every day. It is for councils to set the level of council tax in their area.
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