Council tax bills to increase across Cambridgeshire after 4.99% rise approved
Band D households to pay £84 more as county council approves “most difficult” budget
Council tax bills for everyone in Cambridgeshire will go up from April, as a maximum increase has been approved by Cambridgeshire County Council.
The authority will be increasing its share of the council tax bill by 4.99 per cent.
This includes a 2.99 per cent increase in the basic council tax precept and a two-per cent increase for the adult social care precept.
The increase will see a Band D household pay £1,785.42 towards the county council in 2026/27, an increase of £84.78.
The total council tax bill people receive will also include contributions to other authorities in the area, including the city and district councils, the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, parish and town councils, and the police and fire services.
At a full council meeting this week (February 10) Councillor Lucy Nethsingha (Liberal Democrat), leader of the county council, said this had been “the most difficult budget” to set since she became leader.
She said: “The key challenges facing this council are the cost in social care, both in children and adults, and the cost of SEND education.
“All these are statutory services, providing care to the most vulnerable residents.
“They are not the most visible council services, but they are by far the largest part of the budget and are critical to the individuals and families who rely on them.”
Cllr Nethsingha said the “rapidly rising costs” in children’s and adult social care were a national problem, and argued the care system needs “fundamental reform”.
She added that it was “not right” that so much of the burden of funding these services relied on council tax.
Cllr Nethsingha said the rising costs of social care impacted what was left of the council’s budget to spend on other services.
She said: “We are walking a tight rope to enable investments we have in this budget, despite the challenges, we are also managing to invest in key priority areas that we as an administration and residents believe are important.”
In particular, Cllr Nethsingha highlighted the plans to invest an additional £20million in highways maintenance, on top of government funding.
Cllr Nethsingha said the county’s roads are “in a poor state” and need continued investment.
She also highlighted the planned investment to continue providing the holiday free school meal vouchers for families until the end of the summer holidays this year.
Councillor Ross Martin (Conservative) criticised the plan to increase the county council’s share of council tax by the maximum amount allowed.
He said this increase would impact families across the county and was “not just a figure on a spreadsheet”, but was a “weekly shop” and was not money people could “afford to lose”.
He said: “Residents expect better, they expect the council to live within its means, just as they have to, they expect an administration that respects the family budget.”
The maximum council tax increase was also criticised by the Reform UK group, who proposed an amendment to the budget to increase council tax by 3.99 per cent, rather than 4.99 per cent.
The group argued this could be achieved by “eliminating several non-statutory priorities and investments”, highlighting using money from the anti-poverty reserve and the just transition fund.
Councillor Ricky Ioannides (Reform UK) accused the county council administration of budgeting a “maximum tax rise by default”.
This proposal faced backlash from some councillors who argued the reduction in council tax would impact adult social care funding, something Councillor Laurence Damary-Homan (Liberal Democrat) said was “unconscionable”.
Councillor Elliot Tong (Green Party) branded the proposal to take money out of the anti-poverty reserve as “disgraceful” and accused the Reform UK group of proposing to “balance the books on the backs of the most vulnerable in the county”.
The Reform UK amendment failed to get enough support to be passed.
The other opposition parties also put forward amendments to the budget, but none of them were able to get enough support for them to be passed.
The Conservative group proposed that more money should be spent on highways maintenance, and said work should be undertaken to look at a flood prevention outline business case for the Earith Causeway.
The group also proposed to increase the capacity in the team dealing with the requests for Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan assessments, highlighting that families with children who have special educational needs and disabilities are facing delays getting the assessments and therefore the support they need.
The Conservative amendment proposed that these changes could be funded by using council reserves, and cutting the number of communications staff the authority employs.
The Labour group proposed an amendment setting out how the county council could continue to fund the holiday meal vouchers for the “most vulnerable”.
The group said the 2026/27 vouchers could be funded from reserves, to give the authority time to see how they could continue to be paid for using the new Crisis Resilience Fund from central government.
Councillor Elisa Meschini (Labour) said: “The Liberal Democrats line is ‘we cannot fund them, the government is not letting us’, well incredibly enough you can, look it is in front of you.”
However, Liberal Democrat councillors argued the government guidance was clear that the new Crisis Resilience Fund could not be used to provide a “blanket provision of vouchers” to those eligible for free school meals.
The Labour group argued back that the guidance did allow for vouchers to be provided and said a “targeted scheme based on means tests could still be applied”.
The Green Party group proposed an amendment to the budget to use money from the Crisis Resilience Fund to auto-enrol eligible children to free school meals.
Cllr Tong said there are “probably thousands of children” in the area who are eligible for free school meals, but are “going hungry” because their families could not navigate the benefits system.
He said this move would also help schools in the area get additional pupil premium funding.
The group also proposed that the authority should invest in feasibility work to look at a workplace parking level in Cambridge, as well as looking at amending resident parking permit schemes to charge higher-polluting vehicles more.
None of the opposition amendments were approved, and the administration’s budget was ultimately approved by a majority.
After the meeting, Cllr Nethsingha said: “This budget is our battle plan for a bolder, brighter and more resilient Cambridgeshire during challenging times, and it is just the start.
“These proposals will help the council remain financially sustainable while enabling people to live full, healthy lives and share in a fair and sustainable future.
“I am enormously grateful to the officers and councillors who have worked so hard to bring the budget to this point.
“We will continue to challenge government to recognise they are short-changing the communities of Cambridgeshire and to provide the right level of funding for services that our residents deserve.”