The Secretary of State made an offer to adult social care authorities. (“Adult social care authorities” are local authorities which have functions under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014, namely county councils in England, district councils for an area in England for which there is no county council, London borough councils, the Common Council of the City of London and the Council of the Isles of Scilly.)
The offer was the option of an adult social care authority being able to charge an additional “precept” on its council tax without holding a referendum, to assist the authority in meeting its expenditure on adult social care from the financial year 2016-17. It was originally made in respect of the financial years up to and including 2019-20. If the Secretary of State chooses to renew this offer in respect of a particular financial year, this is subject to the approval of the House of Commons.
Your bill used to show 2 percentage changes for BCP Council, one for the part of the overall change attributable to general expenditure, and one for the part attributable to the Adult Social Care Precept. Whilst we understand this looks different to how other percentage increases are displayed, the bills were calculated correctly, in accordance with regulations and guidance.
From 2025 to 2026, the government stipulated that council’s should revert to pre 2016 bills and combine the entries relating to BCP Council and Adult Social Care.
For 2016 to 2024 years, following example shows how the percentages have been calculated for 2024 to 2025 based on a Band D property.
| Detail on bill |
2023 to 2024 |
Detail on bill | 2024 to 2025 | Increase |
| BCP Council | £1,457.09 | BCP Council | £1,507.42 | 3.0% |
| Adult Social Care precept | £226.14 | Adult Social Care precept | £259.80 | 2.0% |
| BCP Council Bournemouth total | £1,683.23 | BCP Council - total | £1,767.22 | 5.0% |
The BCP Council increase shown above for 2024 to 2025 is calculated based on the total BCP Council charges for 2023 to 2024 (in this example, £1,683.23):
- £1,683.23 x 2.99% = £50.33
- this amount is then added to the 2023 to 2024 BCP Council charge of £1,457.09
- £1,457.09 (last year's BCP Council charge) + £50.33 (this year's increase) = £1,507.42 (2024/25 BCP Council charge)
The Adult Social Care increase shown above for 2024 to 2025 is also calculated based on the total BCP Council charges for 2023 to 2024 (in this example, £1,683.23).
The Adult Social Care precept percentage change is calculated as follows:
- £1,683.23 x 2.0% = £33.66
- this amount is then added to the 2023/24 Adult Social Care precept of £226.14, as this is an accumulated charge
- £226.14 (last year's Adult Social Care precept) + £33.66 (this year's increase) = £259.80 (2024/25 Adult Social Care precept)