The money collected through Council Tax helps pay for a proportion of Devon County Council services for more than 814,440 people in the Devon county area.
For 2023/24, for an average band D property, the Council Tax charge from DCC will be £1,634.13 (£1,556.46 in 2022/23). This is an increase of 4.99% or £77.67.
On 19 December 2022, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities announced the provisional local government finance settlement for 2023/24. The final local government finance settlement 2023/24 was published on 6 February 2023. This is a single year settlement, as was the previous year.
Government has outlined national funding levels for 2024/25 but uncertainty remains at individual council level, as distribution mechanisms for 2024/25 are unconfirmed.
Council Tax is collected by your district council and distributed across a number of local public authorities:
- Devon County Council uses Council Tax to provide education, roads, care for older people and people with disabilities, child protection, youth services, libraries and recycling centres and waste disposal.
- Your district council uses Council Tax to provide refuse collection, kerbside recycling, housing, planning, street cleaning and leisure.
- Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner uses Council Tax to provide law and order and crime reduction.
- Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Authority uses Council Tax to provide fire prevention and fire and rescue services.
- Your local town and parish councils use Council Tax to provide local amenities.
Your Council Tax band is decided by the listing officer from the Valuation Office and is based on the open market value of a property on 1 April 1991. All properties are placed into one of eight bands and the band for your home will be shown on your bill. In some cases, a Council Tax bill is decided on the number of adults living in the household.
Devon County Council charge for each band
| Band A | Band B | Band C | Band D | Band E | Band F | Band G | Band H |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £1,089.42 | £1,270.99 | £1,452.56 | £1,634.13 | £1,997.27 | £2,360.41 | £2,723.55 | £3,268.26 |
The total amount you will pay includes taxes payable to the Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon and Cornwall, Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Authority, your local district council and in some cases your local parish or town council.
How the adult social care precept is shown on the council tax bill
Council Tax bills for 2023/24 are showing a 2% increase next to the adult social care component. This increase is calculated as 2% of the overall Devon County Council charge from 2022/23. The increases in Council Tax attributable to adult social care for periods 2016/17 to 2023/24 are added together to show the total amount of your Council Tax bill that relates to the adult social care component in 2023/24.
Devon County Council is a precepting authority and does not administrate council tax. Enquiries about payments, rebates or benefits should be made to your district or city council.
How your council tax is spent
Devon County Council plans to spend just under £1,710 million (gross) this year (just over £1,558 million in 2022/23) on providing services to more than 814,440 people in Devon.
Just over £1,218 million (just under £1,096 million 2022/23) of this comes from income we receive from government grants, business rates, fees and charges and distribution of previous year’s surplus of Council Tax which leaves a council tax requirement for 2023/24 of £491.805 million (£462.194 million 2022/23).
More information about our spending plans for 2023/24 can be found at Budgets.
Statement from the Ministry of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
The Secretary of State made an offer to ‘adult social care authorities’ (adult social care authorities are local authorities which have functions under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014, namely county councils in England, district councils for an area in England for which there is no county council, London borough councils, the Common Council of the City of London and the Council of the Isles of Scilly).
The offer was the option of an adult social care authority being able to charge an additional ‘precept’ on its Council Tax without holding a referendum, to assist the authority in meeting its expenditure on adult social care from the financial year 2016-17.
It was originally made in respect of the financial years up to and including 2019-20. If the Secretary of State chooses to renew this offer in respect of a particular financial year, this is subject to the approval of the House of Commons.
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