{"id":608669,"date":"2025-12-03T02:47:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T02:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/608669\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T02:47:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T02:47:14","slug":"mancs-set-to-pay-4-99pc-more-council-tax-next-year-despite-town-halls-94m-boost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/608669\/","title":{"rendered":"Mancs set to pay 4.99pc more council tax next year – despite town hall’s \u00a394m boost"},"content":{"rendered":"

Top councillors say the authority is now getting its ‘fair share’ from the government(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

Mancunians will likely fork out 4.99pc extra in council tax next year \u2014 despite the town hall\u2019s expected \u00a394m boost.<\/p>\n

Manchester council believes it will secure millions more from the government as formulas for local authority grants will soon take deprivation and population change into account. While final totals are due to be confirmed just before Christmas<\/a>, the early suggestion is Manchester will receive a \u00a328m boost next year.<\/p>\n

Top finance councillor, Rabnawaz Akbar, said the boom will \u2018rise to \u00a394m\u2019 in three years\u2019 time. That\u2019s on top of a \u00a320m government \u2018recovery grant\u2019, first given last year, but has now been extended for two more years.<\/p>\n

The city now has its \u2018fair share\u2019, Coun Akbar told a town hall meeting on Tuesday (December 2): \u201cIf we received the national average we would have been \u00a360m better off each year. We can confidently say we will balance our books with a no-cuts budget.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, town hall documents confirmed council tax will still rise by 4.99pc next year, the maximum an authority can increase it by without a local referendum.<\/p>\n

Coun Akbar said bosses still face a headache in making ends meet: \u201cWe still face pressures in social care, so it\u2019s right any improvement in funding is prioritised to a rising population and social care needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Image: ABNM Photography)<\/p>\n

But everyday Mancs will still feel the benefit of the \u00a394m boost, as the council will \u2018bring forward a number of measures in the new year like extending library hours, addressing fly-tipping, investing in neighbourhoods and community events like fireworks\u2019, Coun Akbar added.<\/p>\n

One major element of the plan is confirmation a fireworks display will be held at council-run parks for the first time since 2019 next year. After an inevitable 2020 cancellation due to lockdown, the display did not return once Covid restrictions eased because town hall officers chose to spend its budget on a \u2018wider range of free community events across the city throughout autumn and winter\u2019.<\/p>\n

The move was not popular among some families, as they decried the loss of a free firework display. But council bosses say increased government funding means the fireworks can come back with a bang from 2026 and keep up the community events.<\/p>\n

Council Leader Bev Craig said last week: \u201cManchester prides itself on free community events and we know many people have missed Bonfire night firework spectaculars. That\u2019s why we are pleased to confirm they\u2019ll be back by popular demand in 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Top councillors say the authority is now getting its ‘fair share’ from the government(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,932,393,4884,2465,8828,285,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-608669","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-council-tax","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-manchester","13":"tag-manchester-council","14":"tag-politics","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115653354851993810","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}