Sheffield City Council has decided to raise council tax by 4.99% – the maximum increase possible.
Councillors blamed the government’s treatment of the Council over the past 14 years for this tax increase in Wednesday’s City Council Meeting.
Council leader and Labour Councillor Tom Hunt said at a meeting of the council: “In the last 14 years our council has lost, in real terms, nearly half of its funding from central government.”
Labour Councillor Zahira Naz said: “It’s not been easy, we have seen hundreds of millions of pounds taken away from all council services by the government since austerity was imposed on us in 2010. Every year we have had to deliver more with less, which simply cannot continue.
“The cuts in funding fall hardest on local people in the most deprived areas, increasing inequalities resulting in eviction, high levels of homelessness, debt and use of food banks.”
This raise in council tax will cost most homes an extra £1.17 per week, adding to the pressure of the ongoing Cost of Living Crisis.
Labour Councillor Ruth Milson said: “My whole time as a councillor has been marked by the huge and avoidable financial pressures imposed on our city by a government that through ineptitude and callousness has wrecked public services.”
The only Conservative Sheffield City Councillor, Lewis Chinchen, said: “We need to build a positive vision for Sheffield, rather than sliding back into the usual ‘Labour this, Tory that’.
“The ingredients that will make Sheffield a leading city are all there; the people, the enterprise, the community spirit.”
The council did note the positive impact the Government’s decision to extend the Household Support Fund by six months will have for vulnerable people.
However, according to Labour Councillor Douglas Johnson, ‘the household support fund is only there because we’ve got so many people living in the city and near the country who’ve been screwed over by the government and are living in desperate times’.
To help combat the increased tax rate’s impact on vulnerable families, the City Council has added £200K to the Council Tax Hardship fund, bringing the fund’s total to £2.4mil for 2024/25.
