Council tax could rise by 10% to help fund elderly and disabled care – adding nearly £300 to some bills
Theresa May is expected to give the green light for local authorities to hike bills
COUNCIL tax could spiral by as much as 10% in two years adding more than £300 to some bills, ministers will say.
It comes as NHS boss Simon Stevens heaped pressure on the PM to scrap the gold-plated pension triple lock which costs the Government at least £6bn a year.
Theresa May is expected to give the green light to councils hiking bills to raise cash for the elderly and disabled in care.
The rises would see a top Band H billpayer living in Dorset coughing up more than £330 or as much as £156 for a typical Band D taxpayer.
Communities Secretary Sajid Javid will allow councils to add 3 per cent next year and the following year on top of the 2 per cent annual rises brought in by George Osborne last year.
The new proposals will allow councils to “front load” the increases – bringing cash to much-needed services sooner.
But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn attacked the plans, saying the PM should scrap plans to cut corporation tax from 20% to 17% in order to plug the funding gap.
It came as the NHS England chief said pensioner perks like bus passes were pointless when the care system was on the brink of collapse.
Mr Stevens told a Commons committee guaranteeing state pension levels was pointless and the elderly should be able to divert pension funds to pay for their care.
He said: “We should move beyond a triple lock for pensions to instead a triple guarantee on retirement security that would include income but also being able to stay in your own home where that makes sense, and also getting the care you need.”
Theresa May told MPs in the Commons a major overhaul of the social care system was needed to find a sustainable solution.
She said: “We recognise the short-term pressures that there are on the system, but I think it is important for us to look at those medium and longer-term solutions if we are going to be able to address this issue.”
The PM’s spokeswoman confirmed later there was work going on across Government to find a long term fix to the problem.
She added: “In order to have a sustainable long term solution we would like to make sure there was cross party support for it.”