The Isle of Wight has the 11th highest rate of council tax out of all the councils in England, it has been revealed. From April, Islanders will fork out an average £2,029.27 to the Isle of Wight Council and its adult social care services in the next 12 months. The new figures have been revealed by the government’s Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, which compared all 317 county, district, metropolitan and London borough councils and unitary authorities across England. Coming in with the most expensive council tax was Rutland County Council — which the Island is often compared to — with the average Band D residents paying £2,175.41 a year — £146.14 more than Islanders. The Island came in 11th, after a 5.33% increase in council tax and adult social care precept, behind much larger authorities like Durham, Liverpool, Bristol, Northumberland and Gateshead. The Island is only one of 15 areas in the country where residents pay more than £2,000 in council tax and adult social care precepts. Over the water Southampton City Council came in at 67th, with an average Band D taxpayer paying £1,812.69, followed by Portsmouth in 91st at £1,731.15. An increase in the Isle of Wight Council’s tax will pay for feasibility studies to look at a range of projects including solar panels over car parks, pre-fabricated affordable homes and a home for looked-after children and young people with special educational needs. It also includes the resurfacing of the car park at County Hall and providing Coroner’s Court facilities at the council’s offices in Seaclose Park. Out of the 30 fire services in the country, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Authority is the ninth lowest cost for residents at an average £82.84. The highest was Durham Fire Authority, charging residents an average of £118.12 for its services, compared to the lowest West Midlands Fire at £75.20. The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Police and Crime Commissioner put up the police precept by the joint lowest amount across the country, 3.98%. It saw bills increase by £10 for a Band D resident but meant the Island had the 10th least expensive precept out of 37 police forces, at a cost of £261.46. The lowest was Northumbria Police at £181.84 and the highest was Surrey Police, at £323.57.
ISLAND HAS THE 11TH HIGHEST RATE OF COUNCIL TAX IN THE COUNTRY
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Our council is greedy and selfish, giving itself and taking from others. Why carpark need surfacing ? roads are far worse and risk to life, they have just spent millions on heating, windows and decorating, dozens of new EV vehicles, mobile phones and laptops etc. Close it and turn into flats and Portable homes in carpark. 25% of staff not needed and the others can work mobile (that’s what laptops/phones we’re purchased for) or from home as did in Covid ,take back doing waste collection and stop spending on consultants/feasibility- 6th formers and College students can do it as part of course for free.
And one of the main reasons is the huge cost of adult social care, having so many older people, understandably leaving towns, cities and village in which many had lived all their lives to come to places like the Island to escape places they now no longer feel safe, or at ease living in, due to newcomers swamping such areas.
Also, we have a lot of alleged ‘single muvers’ who for the great part DON’T live alone, but know by declaring so, they get even more benefits, free council tax and rent, and spend their days in nail bars, chatting on social media, and dressing their clones in expensive clothes which we all pay dearly for via taxes and more on c.tax.
Benefits need cutting to the bone, to ensure that the lazy work and pay.
Most of the elderly that move to the island own their own homes, pay full council tax and expect to pay for their social care from their own pockets (by selling their homes) if that time comes.
If it weren’t for the elderly (most of whom still pay tax on their pension and savings) the island would sink under the burden of non paying, grab and take sectors…..
So very true ivy. many down our road live as you say, most of these mothers have a live in lover, who deals upping the income, and are very unpleasant and why do they always have to have noisy cars. defo getting way too much money for doing nothing and their kids will be the same as most of these mothers have come from benefit sponging parents, so their kids won’t work just take another free house and benefits, so it goes on and the woke brigade sticks up for these leeches.
Problem is, if you pay people to have more kids, guess what they’re going to do!
“Benefits need cutting to the bone, to ensure that the lazy work and pay”
Not everyone on benefits can work. So sod them all, let them stave. Wait till you need some help, your tune will soon change.
But 99% can. Many people with severe physical disabilities, those that are deformed, blind,deaf etc all manage to, now days there is so much tech support to help. There is a large cohort of lazy so called single mum’s an young guy’s claiming PIP for drug taking and supposedly mental health.
She is a typical arrogant tory fred,tarring everyone with the same brush,maybe she needs to talk to a few veterans,you know ivy,the ones that fought for what you have today?
People on benefits should be found some form of work that suits their abilities. A fit healthy person who cannot find work should be assigned to the council and given duties keeping the streets clean by picking up litter, weeding pavements, cleaning public toilets, or keeping vandals away from public toilets. Even get them work fixing the roads, so they can learn an obviously in-demand skill (it isn’t rocket science!). They should work the equivalent hours to heir benefits at the minimum wage rate. People with less mobility could be given work on council help lines, etc. Doing work would give people self-respect and help them feel like valued members of society. The local council would also have a big workforce to perform tasks.
While the general sentiment isn’t wrong, the problem with it is that all council were forced to outsource contracts to private finance. Those companies more often than not only employ part-timers because then they don’t have to pay employer’s contributions, or sick pay, or full holiday pay. This is why we have a gig economy and even if 1 person had 2 part time jobs there would still be no provision for sickness and second jobs pay a higher rate of tax, so lose there as well. Meanwhile…those companies not only receive big state handouts in terms of contracts but also pocket the profits and send them offshore, thereby paying no tax into UK. THAT’s the bigger problem, not the poor sod on benefits too ill to work properly!
Isn’t it funny how quick people are to judge those who are on benefits. Maybe you should have a look at the greedy people who are higher up. You have some rich people who are handed everything on a plate and more but yes it’s the people who have nothing that we should blame..
So…the elderly here all come from the mainland and can’t get social care due to incomers who presumably come from….the mainland yes? Joined up thinking really not your strongpoint is it dear?
How do you know about the ‘single muvvers’ you speak of? Are you sitting staring out from your twitching curtains or do you have any figures to hand to support your drivel? I’ll give you one figure for free to give you a head start on your research…benefit fraud accounts for 1.2% of all fraud in the UK. Who then do you think is responsible for the other 98.8%?
Err … you seem to have muddled yourself karen. Most fraud is due to online scams, phishing and system breaches, as well as APP transactions where fraudsters trick people into transferring money to them. Obviously, the cost of benefits fraud is tiny in comparison but benefits fraud still cost £8.3 billion in 2022 in the UK. However, I don’t think people are pointing at benefits fraudsters but instead at those who “choose to receive benefits as a lifestyle choice”, which is what George Osborne called it. This is a reality on estates where many of us grew up but it is actually very difficult to get out of that lifestyle. Many think that they have no choice. That is a big problem and I don’t see any party with plans to address it.
If we’re talking about reported fraud, yes, but the far greater fraud which impacts the majority of people’s lives are the unreported tax avoidance and evasion. The revenue lost there runs to significantly more. Also, you forgot to mention the £3.3bn which was underpaid, or that some of the overpayments were in fact error, not fraud.
You have gone off piste again karen. Benefits fraud or other types of fraud were not being discussed. You brought it up and then banged your drum about unquantifiable tax fraud. As stated above, people on here are moaning about those who “choose to receive benefits as a lifestyle choice”, which is a sad reality for many and a trap that no political party is actually planning to solve. Some element of work needs to be included in the benefits system, which should be determined according to ability. Train a bunch of people to fit heat exchange pumps for a start.
@Karen
you say.. Joined up thinking really not your strongpoint is it dear?
that is patronising, mean and demeaning and not to mention mocking those who do struggle with joined up thinking – perhaps your rants on other news items about hate speech, really applies to you.
The island should be called Benefit Isle
Not only is the island surrounded by water, we are surrounded
by Benefit Bums, many of whom drive around in brand new
FREE Motors, they can afford to buy cigarettes £15+ pound a pack.
Lol
“due to newcomers swamping such areas” not sure that comment was necessary, just inciting hate again.
Totally agree on the benefits side, people declaring they are living along when they are not must cost the benefit system HUGE sums of money.
Unproductive local economy due to lack of working age adults leading to low business tax receipts = have to get money elsewhere.
Social care scaling with number of older people = need to get money for that.
Mostly houses, and council tax for each house is not enough to cover expenses for road/utility maintenance leading to it, unlike cities with lots of flats that are CT-positive when they’re stack on top of each other = our very baseline is negative.
Lack of working age adults stems from the higher cohort of elderly which is the biggest drain on finance. Extra flats would in no way cover the tax revenue shortfall; residential CT is 1/286th of total revenue…the rest comes from business rates.
Why are we not surprised. Isn’t it about time that we reduce the number of councillors and actually employ trained accountants, engineers and surveyors instead of relying on some of the present numpty councillors who stumble from decision to decision without having a clue. Obviously there are a few really good and competent ones at the moment and they could be led by the proper experts.
That double yellow line paint isn’t cheap and all those additional parking restriction signs don’t pay for themselves you know ! People don’t seem to realize how much extra it costs to deliver far less and the additional expenditure of stopping you all doing stuff that makes your lives better cos net zero
Do you mean there are actually 10 councils higher???
Wow.
“An increase in the Isle of Wight Council’s tax will pay for feasibility studies to look at a range of projects including solar panels over car parks”
For free,(I make no charge), to suggest that solar panels should be a requirement on all new build properties and put on all the industrial buildings on the island. This would also allow green fields to be used for growing food.
It would be a positive start.
You could have charged the council at least £500k for that advice.
As long as the government can give billions to the oil companies the country can go to pot.
Nothing will change until the people of the uk stand up to these incompetent useless politicians and councillors
Countyhall need boycotting will 100s of residents to get answers why we pay so much to empty bins
They want people to use bikes on these death trap potholed and sinking roads but wont get them fixed to nake the safe. Id like to know why hse haven’t stepped in and took the council to court for putting lives in serious danger.
And catrparking chargers are a utter joke. Then the green waste bins..
But hayho they just gave them selve a pay rise so what do they care.
The kray twins had more sense than this bunch.
rises because this bunch of unqualified morons keep paying for consultants to make every single decision for them, but you morons keep voting for them. Only got yourselves to blame
Scandalous island charges.
Most expensive Ferry fares in the world
50p to use toilets
24/7 364 days a year parking charges
Most expensive green waste charges in the country
One of the Highest Council taxes in the country
That’s the Isle of Wight for you!
And we don’t even have the advantage that a higher council tax prevents low life rubbish from moving here because they don’t pay , or if so a tiny fraction , so rises which are often caused by their breeding feral vandalism prone offspring matters nothing to them as we all pay for this useless costly rubbish.
Sandown also has a precept that is three times the national average which, added to the already high council tax pushes them right up that leader board.
At least they’re doing well at something, I suppose.
I am one of those benefit claimants you speak of. Ask me anything…
Won’t be many more years until Council Tax is
£100.00 a week
It never goes down, but always goes up!
Services are poor on the island, they even
charge us to use public toilets and to
park our vehicles after 6pm along seafronts.
The old poll tax system was much fairer.
I live in a 3 bedroom house with my partner and son.
A family living in an identical house along the same Street
who are a family of 6 pay the same Council Tax amount.
They park 4 vehicles on the Street, we only park 2 vehicles
and they generate much more waste than our household.
The Council Tax system is out of date and unfair.