Failure to pass on funding could see parishes bring legal action: NALC

Some parish councils are “being left with no other choice” but to consider legal action over the failure of 17 authorities to pass on funding intended to mitigate the impact of localised council tax support schemes on the local council tax base, the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) has warned.

According to NALC, the Government has provided funding of £3.3bn to billing authorities in 2014/15 to mitigate the impact.

It said billing authorities were expected to pass down around £40m of funding to parish councils “to mitigate any reduction in the tax base due to their local scheme”.

NALC said the 17 councils concerned had failed to follow Government advice and pass on £3.8m of this funding to parish and town councils.

The authorities in question are: Test Valley Borough Council; South Cambridgeshire District Council; Surrey Heath Borough Council; Central Bedfordshire Council; Huntingdonshire District Council; North Dorset District Council; Sevenoaks District Council; Swale Borough Council; Northumberland County Council; Ashfield District Council; Bassetlaw District Council; Waveney District Council; Mid Sussex District Council; Wakefield Council; St. Helens Metropolitan Borough Council; Wyre Forest District Council; and Bromsgrove District Council.

NALC said: “Parish and town councils have been forced to consider cutting vital services for their communities or to increase their precept (tax charged by parishes on residents) as a result of decisions out of their control taken by another tier of local government.”

The Association said it would like to see legal action avoided but added that it understood why some local councils might be considering it as an option.

Cllr Ken Browse, NALC’s chairman, said “The vast majority of billing authorities have paid over funding to parish councils but I remain bitterly disappointed in the shortsighted actions of 17 authorities refusing to pass on any funding to parishes in their area, which undermines relationships between tiers of local government. 

“This must not happen again next year, I am strongly urging government to identify this funding in the financial settlement and consider either introducing statutory guidance or funding parish and town councils directly.”