Ealing Council is to increase council tax for 2024-2025 by 4.99% as well as charging those who have second homes in the borough double council tax from 1 April 2025.
At February’s Ealing Council cabinet meeting (7 February 2024), documents showing the planned rise revealed that general council tax will rise by 2.99%, the maximum councils are allowed by government to do while there is another 2% increase that households will pay for the social care precept.
The increase follows the same 4.99% rise last year for 2023-2024.
As an example, Council Tax Band D will rise from £1,840.89 in 2023/24 to £1,948.34 which including a GLA precept is an overall increase of 5.84%.
An Ealing Council spokesperson told EALING.NEWS: “Local councils are facing significant budgetary pressures after 13 years of funding cuts, but still, councils like Ealing are expected to continue to do more with less money.
“Like London’s other councils, we have no choice but to raise council tax by 2.99% to meet these pressures. When the government set out the details of this year’s financial settlement for councils in the autumn statement, they made it clear that they anticipated and expected local councils would meet the rising costs of providing services by increasing council tax to the maximum level allowed – 2.99%.
“We are also having to add the government’s 2% adult social care precept, helping with the increasing costs of caring for the borough’s older people and adults with learning difficulties and disabilities.”
Ealing Council also revealed for those who own second homes in the borough, it will be charging double council tax to them from April 1 2025.
In its report, the council said that under new laws: “councils will be able to charge a 100% premium on second homes (where the property is not occupied as someone’s sole or main residence). This change would happen from 1 April 2025 to allow time to notify affected households to make any necessary changes before the commencement date.”
Another change in Ealing will see the council collecting extra council tax for properties that are left unoccupied after one year instead of two years.
It said: “The government have recently amended the legislation and the following changes will be available to local authorities for empty properties such that the 100% premium (where owners are charged double the normal council tax) for properties empty over 2 years will now be chargeable after 1 year only. This would increase pressure on owners of these properties to ensure these homes are brought back into use as soon as possible. This change will be available for local authorities to introduce from 1 April 2024.”
