Councils are in a deep financial hole due to the pandemic. The good news is the situation may not be as grim as it looks.

The Government recently released estimated council tax deficits from 2020-21. As local authorities have had to rely increasingly on income from council tax and business rates in response to funding cuts over the past decade, the news of funding shortfalls in many council budgets due to council tax was less than welcome. Due to COVID, most authorities have not seen as many new properties built as expected and have seen an increase in the amount lost due to council tax support. Therefore, when authorities set their council tax, they were over-optimistic.