Campaign launched to reduce council tax as Sheffield Council plans another rise

A taxpayer has started a petition calling for a reduction in tax as Sheffield Council plans another increase in its struggle to balance the budget.
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Taxpayers will be hit with another rise in council tax in the coming financial year as the council faces a total budget gap of £98 million.

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Sheffield residents set to be hit with council tax increase as authority faces £...

Callie Jackson, a Sheffield Council taxpayer, started a petition to cut the cost on residents, saying South Yorkshire Police needed to improve its services.

A Sheffield taxpayer launched a petition calling for a reduction in council tax until services improve.A Sheffield taxpayer launched a petition calling for a reduction in council tax until services improve.
A Sheffield taxpayer launched a petition calling for a reduction in council tax until services improve.
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In a petition statement she said: “As we all know the council tax covers our services e.g. police, street bin collections, fire service. Now as a member of the public and a Sheffield Council tax payee, the fire service are always on time and bin collections are made. However the police are never there when needed at the relevant time or are they true to their word on keeping us safe when we need it…

“By the signatures achieved hopefully there is some faith in the Sheffield City Council something will be done! Either a reduction in council tax or better police service for the public, whether that be extra funding in training or a pay rise to recruit more police teams to do their jobs. It is getting more than ridiculous in more than just certain areas of Sheffield.”

The petition will run until January 25 and can be found here: https://democracy.sheffield.gov.uk/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?ID=10246&RPID=6575514&HPID=6575514

Why do taxpayers pay so much for the police?

The ‘police precept’ is the portion of your council tax that goes to the local police force.

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Police have become more and more reliant on cash from council tax.

In the mid-1990s, just 12p in every pound of police spending came from the precept, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

But in 2018/19, 32p in every pound of funding for forces in England and Wales came from the precept, Home Office figures show.

In the following year, the government increased the amount of police precept that could be charged and South Yorkshire’s police and crime commissioner chose to increase this by the new maximum, adding £24 per year for Band D households.

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At the time, Louise Haigh, MP for Sheffield Heeley and then shadow policing and crime minister, said local taxpayers were ‘being forced to pay the price for reckless Tory cuts to local police forces’ and that it created a postcode lottery where some areas are hit harder by austerity than others.

The Police Federation agreed, saying the government is ‘passing the buck’ to local forces and there is the risk of creating ‘a two-tier system where wealthier communities will have more money available for local policing than others’.

How much is council tax set to rise this year?

The council’s total funding gap before savings stands at £98 million. Savings of £35.7 million were declared by the council, making the remaining gap £62.3 million.

Part of its plan to balance the budget is to increase council tax by 1.99 per cent with an additional one per cent precept for adult social care.

This is expected to raise an extra £6.711 million.