Shaun Davies, chairman of the Local Government Association, said councils are starting the financial year in a precarious position meaning many are left facing the difficult choice between scrapping services or raising bills. He said "It is unsustainable to expect them to keep doing more for less in the face of unprecedented pressures.
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00:00 I mean, councils like households have also faced rising costs and are seeking to get
00:06 as much cash as they can to maintain public services. Of course, we can understand that.
00:12 It doesn't make it any easier for the rest of us. With council tax at the highest location
00:16 in Rutland, now more than £2,500 a year for Band D, it is not a cheap time to live in
00:23 the UK. And unfortunately, all these tax rises and council tax rises and the rising costs
00:30 of other bills means that even though inflation is coming down, living costs are still rising.
00:36 Unlike other household bills like electricity or phone bills, when it comes to council tax,
00:41 you can't shop around to get a better deal. Certain groups can apply for exemptions though.
00:45 You'll get 50% off your bill if everyone living in your household is disregarded, and you'll
00:50 get 25% off your bill if you pay council tax and either you live on your own or everyone
00:55 else in your home is disregarded. You can contact your local council if you're unsure
00:59 about whether you can get a discount or who's responsible for paying. With that in mind
01:03 then, what's in store for the future? Could we be seeing more rises or will other bills
01:08 dropping mean we'll be better off sometime soon?
01:10 There is some prospect as inflation continues to fall and interest rates, Bank of England
01:15 based rates, also may begin to fall from the middle of the year. If those two things continue
01:20 to happen or interest rates do start falling from their current 15 year highs, that will
01:25 also likely feed forward into other living costs coming down. It's too early to celebrate
01:32 for those few of us who could even ever afford champagne. It's probably too early to open
01:36 any. But maybe by the end of this year, and of course the government will hope just in
01:41 time for the elections, people will start to feel a little bit less hard up. Unfortunately,
01:46 millions of UK households are in debt from the crisis we've experienced. And so even
01:51 if living costs fall, it may take many years for us really to feel like we're back to where
01:57 we were in 2020.