Agenda item

ORDERED that Executive:

1.    Approve the council tax base for 2025/26 as 36,513.9.

2.    Approve 2,447.3 and 1,504.8 as council tax bases for the parishes of Nunthorpe and Stainton & Thornton respectively for 2025/26.

3.    Approve to notify the Police and Crime Commissioner, the Cleveland Fire Authority, and the Parish Councils of the 2025/26 council tax base.

AGREED that Executive note the content of the report.

The Executive Member for Finance submitted a report for Executive’s consideration. The report was part of the process to set the council tax base for the financial year 2025/26 by the statutory deadline of 31 January 2025.

The Council had a legal obligation to calculate a council tax base each financial year. The calculation of the council tax base was part of the Council’s budget strategy which formed part of the Council’s Policy Framework.

The starting point for the calculation of the 2025/26 tax base was the number of dwellings on the Valuation List for Middlesbrough Council on 15 September 2024 provided by the Government’s Valuation Office Agency (line one of Appendix One in the report). The figures were then adjusted for exempt and demolished dwellings as at 7 October 2024, and for dwellings subject to disabled relief reduction.

The number of chargeable dwellings in each band was further adjusted for discounts, premiums, and local council tax support.

The resultant figure, found in line two of Appendix One of the report, was the total equivalent number of dwellings which were then converted using ratios, in line thee of appendix one, into the number of Band D equivalents (line four), specified in the 1992 Act. For 2025/26, the equivalent number of Band D properties was calculated at 37,145.4.

The council tax base was finally determined by multiplying the sum of the Band D equivalents by the Authority’s estimated collection rate, which had been assumed at 98.3% for 2025/26. This was the estimate of the percentage of the 2025/26 Council Tax set which would be collected in total, and not the expected in-year collection rate in 2025/26. The rate used was re-considered each year and the rate of 98.3% used for 2025/26 was higher than that used for 2024/25 of 97.4% due to a review of the bad debt provision. The resulting council tax base for 2025/26 for the whole of Middlesbrough (Appendix One) was 36,513.9 rounded to one decimal place.

The growth in the council tax base was estimated to have reduced the need for budget reductions by approximately £743,000 in 2025/26 and on an ongoing basis, based on the 2024/25 Basic Council Tax.

ORDERED that Executive:

1.    Approve the council tax base for 2025/26 as 36,513.9.

2.    Approve 2,447.3 and 1,504.8 as council tax bases for the parishes of Nunthorpe and Stainton & Thornton respectively for 2025/26.

3.    Approve to notify the Police and Crime Commissioner, the Cleveland Fire Authority, and the Parish Councils of the 2025/26 council tax base.

AGREED that Executive note the content of the report.

OPTIONS

No other options were put forward as part of the report.

REASONS

The recommendations were supported for the following reasons: -

a) The Local Government Finance Act 1992 required a billing authority to calculate its council tax base for each financial year.

b) The method of calculation was specified in the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) (England) Regulations 2012, which required the calculation to be approved before 31st January in the year proceeding the relevant financial

year.