Opposition slam potential council tax rises but leader warns increase needed

Successive council tax increases have been labelled “hard to justify” by opposition councillors – but the local authority’s leader has insisted the rises are needed to invest in public services.

Caerphilly County Borough Council has proposed a 6.25% council tax increase from April as part of its budget plans for 2026/27 – plans which are currently out for consultation.

If the council tax rise goes ahead, it will mean bills will have risen by 22.5% in four years – an increase of £305 for a Band D property.

Councillor Charlotte Bishop, leader of the Plaid Cymru group, said: “Working families seem to be the ones expected to just absorb these increases year after year.

“There are support measures for people on the lowest incomes, and that’s right, but there’s very little recognition of working families who are just about coping.

“A lot of households have both parents working because they simply can’t afford not to, yet they don’t qualify for much help at all.”

Cllr Bishop, who took over the group’s leadership from Lindsay Whittle after his Senedd by-election victory, continued: “Once council tax, energy, food and childcare are paid, there’s often nothing left – just worry about how to get through the next month.

“A rise of over 22% in just four years, especially during a cost-of-living crisis, is hard to justify.”

‘Even more pressure’

Cllr Bishop was backed up by her two group deputy leaders – Cllr Colin Mann and Cllr Gary Enright.

Cllr Mann highlighted the “large numbers of working people going to food banks” and said the council tax increase would “lump even more pressure on everyone”.

Meanwhile, Cllr Enright described the proposed 6.25% rise as “totally unacceptable” and called for a “wider review of what the Labour administration has done for residents with the money raised from bills”.

‘Council tax has to go up’

Councillor Jamie Pritchard, who became council leader back in November, defended the increases and warned: “In order to invest in public services, such as a massive 50% uplift in funding to clean up the county borough, £9.6m to fund social service pressures, and to maintain a more generous Home To School Transport provision, council tax has to go up.”

But while Cllr Pritchard said he was “encouraged the Plaid group are not questioning any of these funding commitments”, he questioned what his opponents would do differently.

“What is absent from Plaid’s press release is any suggestions on how they would fund a council tax reduction,” said Cllr Pritchard.

“What services would they propose to cut to shave 1% or 2% off the council tax? Let’s be honest, the public don’t buy council tax gimmicks or un-costed statements made by politicians.”