Understanding your council tax bill
The amount of council tax you pay in 2022/23 will depend on:
- The council tax band for your property
- Whether you are entitled to any discounts, exemptions or relief on the full bill
Your council tax helps to fund local services, such as social care for vulnerable people; and support for children, young adults and elderly people. It also pays for waste and recycling, schools, libraries, leisure centres, street cleaning and much more.
A Government body called the Valuation Office Agency decides which band your property is in. Your bill tells you which band you’re in.
You may have to pay the full amount or you may be entitled to a discount. For example, if you live on your own or you are on a low income and qualify for Council Tax Support.
Example breakdown for council tax band D for 2022/23:
- North Northamptonshire Council and adult social care: £1,578.73
- Fire: £278.04
- Police: £68.20
- Total: £1,924.97
Please note, band D is the amount for the average council tax payer. Town and Parish Councils may levy a separate amount called a precept that may form part of your council tax bill.
Our income in 2022/23
Similar to other councils, we receive funding for services from a few key sources. These are our main sources of income:
- Council tax: 59.2%, £175.3 million
- Business rates: 27.3%, £80.8 million
- Grants and other external funding: 12.6%, £37.2 million
- Use of reserves: 0.9%, £2.6 million
- Total resources: £295.9 million
Our expenditure in 2022/23
Your council tax helps to fund local services, such as social care for vulnerable people and support for children, young adults and elderly people. It also pays for waste and recycling, schools, libraries, leisure centres, street cleaning, parks and much more:
- Adult social care services: 35.8%, £105.8 million
- Children’s services such as schools: 21.0%, £62.1 million
- Highways and waste management: 16.5%, £48.9 million
- Enabling services including customer services, revenues and benefits and support services: 11.4%, £33.8 million
- Corporate core including borrowing costs, contingency and resources to be allocated: 9.1%, £27.0 million
- Housing, communities, culture and leisure: 3.8%, £11.1 million
- Growth and regeneration: 1.6%, £4.7 million
- Regulatory services including Trading Standards, environmental health and building control: 0.8%, £2.5 million
- Total expenditure: £295.9 million
Adult Social Care services support some of the most vulnerable members of our communities, largely those in old age and adults with disabilities.
The government introduced legislation and guidance setting out how the Adult Social Care costs are calculated and shown on council tax bills. This guidance has been followed when producing the council tax bills for 2022/23.
Unlike larger authorities, they have no caps on what they can increase their demand by. For more information on your Parish Council's budget and plans, please visit their own respective websites or contact them directly.
The percentages show how each part contributes to the overall increase set by North Northamptonshire Council.
North Northamptonshire Council has chosen to increase the part of the council tax bill relating to general council expenditure by 1.99%. Please note that this is shown as 2% on your bill (the system is restricted to printing to one decimal place).
The percentage increase for the North Northamptonshire Council (excluding police, fire services and parish and town councils) is calculated on the combined total of the Council’s general expenditure and Adult Social Care charges from last year’s bill.
The percentage increase for Adult Social Care is calculated on the combined total of the North Northamptonshire Council and Adult Social Care charges from last year’s bill. The increase is 1% as shown on your bill.