Council tax has become ‘like a second mortgage’ for people

Richard Youle Local Democracy Reporter

Council tax has become like a second mortgage for people, according to a council’s leader of the opposition.

Cllr Chris Holley was speaking at a scrutiny meeting during which it emerged that £955,000 less council tax had been collected by Swansea Council in 2025-26 than budgeted for.

Although the sum was a small fraction of the overall council tax take of £166.75 million, Liberal Democrat councillor Holley wondered if people were struggling to pay or whether there were other reasons behind the shortfall.

He said “council tax has become something like a second mortgage for many people”.

Finance director Ben Smith said he reckoned part of the £955,000 deficit was due to cost of living pressures, part of it was due to bill payers being given more leeway to pay the tax – thereby slowing down potential enforcement – with another factor the amount of unpaid council tax the authority planned for. Mr Smith also said there had been council tax surpluses in recent years.

Councillors at Wales’ 22 authorities set the level of council tax every year and it varies from area to area.

It increased by 5.95% in Swansea in 2025-26 and ranged from £1,159.74p for Band A properties to £4,059.09p for Band I homes although this didn’t include the South Wales Police precept and any community council precepts. Council tax went up again in April this year.

Cllr Holley said: “I think it’s a high bill, it’s the same across the country.”

Labour council leader Rob Stewart said the tax only covered around a quarter of the council’s annual day-to-day expenditure, which is mainly funded by a Welsh Government grant and a share of business rates.

Cllr Stewart said any shortfalls in these major two funding elements had a big impact on local authorities.

He said Swansea had always been “considerate” regarding its council tax-setting and that it remained below the Welsh average. “But if the Welsh Government does not pass the money on it makes our job ten times worse,” he said.

The service improvement, regeneration and finance scrutiny panel also heard the council set aside an extra £13 million last year to address potential equal pay liabilities, on top of £15 million already earmarked for this.

Councillors decided to defer any equal pay debate to a future meeting given ongoing discussions with trade unions.

A report before the panel said most council departments spent less than expected in 2025-26 while two overspent including social services due to high adult care costs. Reserves held by schools also continued to fall.

Risks circling around the current year’s budget include adult social care costs, although more money was pumped into this service at the start of 2026-27, additional learning needs pressures, and a rejection by unions to date of a local Government pay offer.

The report also said that Welsh Government aspirations to eliminate social care profit in children’s services was, on their own modelling, “likely to increase medium-term costs for councils”.

Cllr Stewart said school reserves were still healthy and that the council’s finances overall remained strong. He added: “We are very clear that directors live within their spend limits.”

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