How the adult social care precept is shown on the Council Tax bill

The council tax attributable to Devon County Council includes a precept to fund adult social care. For adult social care authorities, Council Tax bills show two percentage changes: one for the part of the overall change attributable to the adult social care precept, and one for the part attributable to general expenditure.

There is a 1% increase in the overall Council Tax in 2022/23 for adult social care. The increases in Council Tax attributable to adult social care for 2016/17 to 2022/23 are added together to show the total amount of your council tax bill that relates to the adult social care component in 2022/23.

Valuation band Government multiplier Adult social care precept General expenditure (other) Council Tax Devon CC
Ratio % of band D £ £ £
A 6/9 66.7 122.58 915.06 1,037.64
B 7/9 77.8 143.01 1,067.57 1,210.58
C 8/9 88.9 163.44 1,220.08 1,383.52
D 1 100.0 183.87 1,372.59 1,556.46
E 11/9 122.2 224.73 1,677.61 1,902.34
F 13/9 144.4 265.59 1,982.63 2,248.22
G 15/9 166.7 306.45 2,287.65 2,594.10
H 18/9 200.0 367.74 2,745.18 3,112.92

Band D illustration

Year Council Tax – General Council Tax –
Adult Social Care		 Council Tax – Band D
2016/17* Council Tax £ 1,184.39 23.23 1,207.62
Increase % 1.99 2.00 3.99
2017/18 Council Tax £ 1,208.46 59.46 1,267.92
Increase % 1.99 3.00 4.99
2018/19 Council Tax £ 1,246.41 84.78 1,331.19
Increase % 2.99 2.00 4.99
2019/20 Council Tax £ 1,286.19 98.10 1,384.29
Increase % 2.99 1.00 3.99
2020/21 Council Tax £
 1,313.73 125.73 1,439.46
Increase %
 1.99 2.00 3.99
2021/22 Council Tax £ 1,342.44 168.84 1,511.28
Increase % 1.99 3.00 4.99
2022/23 Council Tax £
 1,372.59 183.87 1,556.46
Increase % 1.99 1.0 2.99

* In 2015/16 there was no separate adult social care element (precept). The County Council part of the bill for a band D property was £1,161.27.

The settlement has set the Council Tax increase that will trigger the need for a referendum, excluding the social care precept, at 2% for 2022/23.

The adult social care precept regulations in 2016/17 capped the social care precept at 2% per annum for the period 2016/17 to 2019/20. Central government changed these regulations in 2017/18 and allowed authorities to increase the precept to a maximum of 3% per annum over the period 2017/18 to 2019/20 providing the total increase over the three years did not exceed 6%. The Council increased the adult social care precept by 3% in 2017/18, 2% in 2018/19, 1% in 2019/20, 2% in 2020/21 and 3% in 2021/22.

The government assumes in its calculation of core spending power that all local authorities will increase Council Tax by the maximum amount in 2022/23 (i.e. 2% plus the increase in the adult social care precept). Councils with adult social care responsibilities will be able to increase their Council Tax by a further 1% in 2022/23, on top of the core principle, to be spent exclusively on adult social care.

In 2022/23 the adult social care Precept will increase by 1%, which is 1% of the total 2021/22 bill of £1,511.28 and not 1% of the adult social care element of £168.84. Likewise, the 1.99% increase shown against the ‘general’ line above is in fact 1.99% of the total 2021/22 bill and not just the ‘general’ element of the 2021/22 bill. This is how central government’s regulations require us to show it.

The adult social care figure shown above (Band D illustration) of £183.87 is calculated as £1,511.28 x 1% = £15.03 + £168.84 from 2021/22 to give the total adult social care precept of £183.87 in the Band D bill for 2022/23.