Question about different areas within one LA

Sephs

Hi

Just out of curiosity, I'm wondering what the reason is for my Band A home in Area A having a higher council tax cost than someone else's Band A home in Area B?

Out of seven areas within my local authority, my home is in the third most expensive council tax area despite some of the cheaper council tax areas actually appearing more affluent. How do they work that out?

Thanks for any replies.

kathrynha

I know local to me some areas have parish and town councils, and they add a bit on to the council tax bill

CIS

Under the same authority any difference will almost certainly be the parish charge - check your council's website and it will tell you the parish areas.

Sephs

Thanks to you both for your replies.

I am looking at seven areas within the authority, and six of them are civil parishes. It looks like the parish charges vary as there's a difference of £34 p/a between the most expensive and the cheapest Band A area. Does anyone know how this is determined? Does the parish decide this themselves?

Thanks

kathrynha

I believe they decide for themselves, although guessing there are limits.

CIS

Parish charges are determined based on the monies they need in relation to the previous year - the annual rise a parish can levy isn't actually capped at the moment (well, not unless they've changed it since last time I checked the regulations) so you do see some odd increases - it doesn't take much of an increase on £35, for example, to show as a large % increase. It appears the average rise is around 5-6% p/a though at least one did a 50% increase one year.

Sephs

CIS wrote: »

Parish charges are determined based on the monies they need in relation to the previous year - the annual rise a parish can levy isn't actually capped at the moment (well, not unless they've changed it since last time I checked the regulations) so you do see some odd increases - it doesn't take much of an increase on £35, for example, to show as a large % increase. It appears the average rise is around 5-6% p/a though at least one did a 50% increase one year.

That's interesting. Thank you!