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First London borough to impose £2K council tax as Covid crisis sees bills soar
The increases have been fuelled by the cost of providing Covid bail-outs to residents that have not been fully reimbursed by central government
(PA)A London borough is to impose the capital’s first £2,000 council tax as households across the city faced inflation-busting increases due to Covid.
Lib Dem-run Kingston is to levy a benchmark band D annual bill of £2,057 from April — up almost £113 on last year. It is one of six boroughs set to impose an average increase of £100 or more.
The others are Bexley, Croydon, Haringey, Harrow and Waltham Forest, according to Evening Standard research.
The increases have been fuelled by the cost of providing Covid bailouts to residents that have not been fully reimbursed by central government.
They have also been driven by a 9.5 per cent increase in Mayor Sadiq Khan’s share of bills, which adds £31.59 to the benchmark rate.
Harrow will set the capital’s second highest band D bill at £1,962 and Richmond the third highest at £1,959.
Westminster remains the lowest at £828, followed by Wandsworth on £845 — the only borough to freeze the non-social care part of its demand.
Only five of the 33 boroughs decided not to increase their share of bills by 4.99 per cent, the maximum permitted by the Government without requiring a referendum of voters. Of this, three per cent is for adult social care.
Boroughs say the increase is effectively a “Covid tax” as it has been made necessary by the cost of the pandemic.
In addition to providing help to residents, all boroughs expect to see their income plummet as residents end up on benefits and businesses close, reducing income from business rates.
Kingston said it had been “left with a Covid shortfall of £4 million” after spending £12 million on food and prescription deliveries and helping vulnerable groups, and handing out £31 million in grants to struggling businesses.
In Newham, where bills are rising £84 to £1,467, mayor Rokhsana Fiaz said the council had been left with a £12 million Covid bill “despite the Government promising it would do ‘whatever it takes’ to support councils”.
In Wandsworth, council leader Ravi Govindia said: “Keeping our bills as low as possible is the single most effective thing we can do to help the largest number of people.”
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Families could face ‘council tax rise of up to £100 a year’
