Westminster council tax to rise to cope with cost of pandemic – as the city faces £43m cuts

By Julia Gregory, local democracy reporter

Council tax is going up in Westminster to cope with the costs of the pandemic.

Westminster City Council plans to increase the tax by 3.5 per cent – including a general increase of 0.5 per cent and a social care precept rise of three per cent.

It means residents living in Band D homes will have to fork out an extra £15.69 a year – or 30.2p a week.

Their bill will go up from £448.21 a year to £463.90 in the coming financial year.

The increase is still below the maximum of the 4.99 per cent the Government says councils can increase bills by before they have to trigger a referendum.

But the Conservative-controlled council said this year’s increase is necessary because of the pressures of the pandemic.

It was already looking at savings before coronavirus struck.

The council says it has seen a loss of income from parking,  commercial waste collection  and sales.

Paul Swaddle, the cabinet member in charge of finance, said the council suffered a gross variance of £60-70m in the budget – but managed to offset it with government grants and income reimbursement and by drawing on its reserves, which have a balance of £63m.

However Cllr Swaddle warned of tough days ahead.

The £182m budget which will come to full council in March includes £16.9m savings for 2021/22.

And the council faces a budget gap of £43m over the next couple of years.

“The council has been relying on generating more income as a way of balancing its budget, but we are in a very different situation now, so that the process has focussed much more on reviewing our spending, looking for efficiencies in ways of doing things but still achieving good outcomes,” said Cllr Swaddle.

It means savings including staff salaries and restructuring.

“As a balance to the council tax increase, Westminster Council continues to maintain a council tax support scheme at the most generous levels with residents on full welfare support not having to pay any council tax.”

Council leader Rachael Robathan, pictured beside Cllr Swaddle before lockdown, said:  “I can’t remember a year as critical as this in terms of the impact on the city’s finances. The fact that we have been able to meet this position in such relatively robust health  is something we would have found quite difficult to believe nine months ago.”

She said it was important to keep the council tax increase in line with inflation.

“We know that council tax is a tax that affects people disproportionately,  affects those on lower incomes and it is right that we do everything we can to keep  council tax low while maintaining front-line services in order to support our residents particularly after such a challenging year as this.”