You need to pay Council Tax if you live in or own a property.
Your Council Tax is shared between your local district or borough council, the Suffolk Constabulary and Suffolk County Council, and used to provide public services.
Who do I pay my Council Tax to?
If you live in Suffolk, you pay Council Tax to your local district or borough council.
They are:
- Babergh District Council and Mid Suffolk District Council
- East Suffolk (Suffolk Coastal District Council and Waveney District Council)
- Ipswich Borough Council
- West Suffolk (Forest Heath District Council and St Edmundsbury District Council)
Your local council can help you with things such like housing and council tax exemptions.
- Find who your local council is on GOV.UK if you don't know who they are
- How Suffolk Police and Crime Commissioner spends Council Tax
How Council Tax is calculated
|
2017/2018 Council Tax |
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Overall Suffolk County Council |
£789 | £920.50 | £1052 | £1183.50 | £1446.50 | £1,709.50 | £1972.50 | £2367 |
|
**Increase (%) |
A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
F |
G |
H |
| Base Council Tax | 2.99% | 2.99% | 2.99% | 2.99% | 2.99% | 2.99% | 2.99% | 2.99% |
| Adult Social Care Levy | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% |
| Overall Suffolk County Council component of Council Tax |
4.99% | 4.99% | 4.99% | 4.99% | 4.99% | 4.99% | 4.99% | 4.99% |
|
**Increase (£) |
A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
F |
G |
H |
| Base Council Tax | 23.58 | 27.51 | 31.44 | 35.37 | 43.23 | 51.09 | 58.95 | 70.74 |
| Adult Social Care Levy | 15.78 | 18.41 | 21.04 | 23.67 | 28.93 | 34.19 | 39.45 | 47.34 |
| Overall Suffolk County Council component of Council Tax |
39.36 | 45.92 | 52.48 | 59.04 | 72.16 | 85.28 | 98.40 | 118.08 |
|
2018/2019 Council Tax |
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Base Council Tax |
774.60 | 903.70 | 1032.80 | 1161.90 | 1420.10 | 1678.30 | 1936.50 | 2323.80 |
|
Adult Social Care Levy |
53.76 | 62.72 | 71.68 | 80.64 | 98.56 | 116.48 | 134.40 | 161.28 |
|
Overall Suffolk County Council |
£828.36 | £966.42 | £1104.48 | £1242.54 | £1518.66 | £1794.78 | £2070.90 | £2485.08 |
**Legislation requires that the increase is calculated based upon the total Suffolk County Council component of the council tax charged for the previous year.
Where we spend the money
Suffolk County Council's budget for 2018-19 is £498.5 million.
Expenditure varies between financial years because of the impact of funding reductions, increased demand for services and changing responsibilities.
| Directorate | 2018-19 |
|---|---|
| Adult and Community Services | £232.1 million |
| Health, Wellbeing and Children’s | £137.7 million |
| Fire and Public Safety | £24.5 million |
| Growth Highway and Infrastructure | £50.3 million |
| Corporate Services | £26.4 million |
| Capital Financing and Central Resources | £27.5 million |
Capital projects
We also plan to spend £99.5 million on capital projects, including:
- continuing to invest in the county’s road network, totalling £39.4 million
- superfast Broadband, totalling £7.2 million
- schools, including additional places, totalling £28.6 million
How we will make savings
Suffolk County Council's grant from government continues to reduce and in order to set a balanced budget for 2018-19 savings of £23.9 million have been identified.
These savings will be delivered across a number of services as the Council continues to make good progress with transformation programmes and identifies ways in which services can be managed in an efficient and effective way.
Read full details of the savings in annex D of Appendix C.
| Project | Directorate | Savings |
|---|---|---|
|
Commission personalised services and information to reduce service demands and support people within their own homes. The Mental Heath/Learning Disabilities strategy will look at changing how services are planned and commissioned to create a more diverse range of provision and increase personalisation to try to reduce the rate of growth in demand for Learning Disabilities services. Target resources available for care pricing to support sustainable high-quality care. |
Adult and Community Services | £11 million |
| Reduction of sheltered housing grant. This proposal has been shared with providers since 2016 and in the interim, they have been encouraged to make alternative arrangements for the sustainability of these low-level support services. | Adult and Community Services | £1 million |
| Review income generation opportunities and exploit the benefits of the new Care Management System to deliver efficiency savings. Savings from negotiation of a four-year budget deal with Suffolk Libraries. | Health, Wellbeing and Children’s Services | £0.25 million |
| Changes to the delivery of the Trading Standards service and a modest reduction to the level of grants for the Citizens Advice Services. Efficiencies from property collaboration between the Fire & Rescue Service and other blue-light organisations. | Fire and Public Safety | £0.24 million |
| Adjustment to the highways winter maintenance programme and generation of additional income from charges. Savings from the continuation of the Connecting Communities (Community Transport Services) strategy and efficiencies from sponsored bus services contracts.. | Growth, Highways and Infrastructure | £1.34 million |
| Savings from the re-procurement of IT contracts and further efficiencies from the Corporate Property service. | Corporate Services | £0.37 million |
| Re-profiling of Council debt to reduce the amount of money that the Council needs to set aside each year to repay this. Increase in the dividend that the Council receives from the operation of its wholly owned companies. Careful management of the resources available to meet the cost of inflationary increases and further review of opportunities to generate additional income. | Capital Financing and Central Resources | £9.7 million |
Where the money comes from
Suffolk County Council's budget for 2018-19 is £498.5 million.
Expenditure varies between financial years because of the impact of funding reductions, increased demand for services and changing responsibilities.
| Category | 2018-19 (£) | 2018-19 (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Council Tax | £290.4 million | 58% |
| Government Grants | £52.2 million | 10% |
| Social Care precept | £19.9 million | 4% |
| Business Rates (including top up grant) | £133.1 million | 27% |
| Use of Reserves | £2.9 million | 1% |