Some 257 local authorities have accepted the Government's offer of a grant to freeze council tax for 2013/14, figures released by the DCLG today have revealed.

Last year 358 councils took up the government's funding deal to freeze tax in the second consecutive year of such arrangements.

However, a final tally of councils taking their share of the £450m cash made available to pay for the this year's freeze - equivalent to a 1% increase in local levies  and spread over two years - will not be available until the end of the month.

Ministers have also sought to alert council tax payers they now have the right to pay their local charges in 12 equal monthly instalments instead of ten – a move designed to reduce average payments by £24 a year.

Communities secretary, Eric Pickles, said:  ‘The combined effect of our action means council tax bills, which doubled under the last Government, have fallen by 9.5% in real terms since we came into Government – that is worth £200 overall to a typical hard-working family.'