COUNCILLORS have agreed to increase East Riding council’s part of the council tax charge in the county by 3.99 per cent for the 2020-21 financial year. 

The increase, which was agreed at a Full Council meeting on Thursday, will raise £6.8 million of additional income for the council and will result in an increase of £57.64 a year for a Band D property.

Alongside the increase in council tax, the local authority still needs to make savings of almost £5 million from its 2020/21 budget to meet the growing costs of delivering its services.

The annual savings requirement is forecast to increase to £19.7million by 2023/24.

On top of the council’s charge, there will be additional charges from Humberside Police, Humberside Fire and Rescue Service as well as town/parish councils, which are determined separately.

To help local authorities meet the continuing increases to the costs and demand for social care, the Government announced a package of funding measures for 2020-21 which included £1 billion nationally of additional social care funding plus an extra £0.5 billion for adult social care which councils can raise through a two per cent increase to council tax, on top of a limit of two per cent on general increases to council tax.

Despite the additional funding, the costs of social care are still expected to exceed the funding available over the medium-term.

The Government has committed to cross-party talks to determine a long-term solution to the social care funding challenge and the Prime Minister has pledged to bring forward a plan to Parliament during 2020.