The BBC has confirmed that Wandsworth Council has misled residents by claiming to have frozen council tax — a story that Putney.news has been highlighting for weeks.
In a segment broadcast this morning, Radio 4’s More or Less programme debunked the council’s carefully-worded assertion, exposing a 2% rise in bills for local households.
The controversy centres around a line in the council’s taxpayer-funded Brightside magazine: “Wandsworth Council is freezing your council tax for the third year in a row.” But as the BBC’s investigation confirmed, residents are in fact facing a 2% increase.
Presenter Tim Harford noted that the rise had come as a surprise to local listener Louis Redman, who was assured by the council’s publication that his bill would remain unchanged. When it arrived, it had gone up.
“I might well say it’s one of those wonderfully ‘carefully written’ statements,” Harford said. “They said they’d frozen it, and they haven’t. They haven’t frozen it at all.”
Economics expert
To unravel the details, More or Less called on Professor Tony Travers, a leading expert in local government at the London School of Economics. He explained that councils are permitted to raise council tax by 3% annually, with an additional 2% allowed specifically to fund adult social care. This 2% is known as the “adult social care precept.”
Wandsworth Council, he explained, has frozen the “main element” of council tax, but used the 2% social care precept to increase the overall charge — a fact that is not clearly communicated in its public messaging.
“They make it sound like the 2% increase only applies to some small portion of the bill,” said Travers. “But that’s not what’s happening. The 2% applies to the whole bill.”
“In the round, they’ve put council tax up by 2%,” he concluded. “But they’re disguising it in the language.”
Even when pressed by the BBC, Wandsworth Council doubled down, stating: “Wandsworth Council has frozen the main element of council tax for the third year in a row. The 2% increase reflects the adult social care precept, which is ring-fenced to fund vital support for older and vulnerable residents.”
But as More or Less pointed out, this “misses the point” — that the 2% rise applies to the full portion of the bill under Wandsworth’s control. As Harford summarised: “It seems mad to have to repeat this, but a 2% increase is not a freeze.”
Listen to the programme here (start at 15 minutes in)
Holding the council accountable
The segment will likely intensify scrutiny of Wandsworth’s communications strategy, which Putney.news and others have criticised as misleading. Despite having one of the lowest council tax rates in England — a legacy of historical government funding formulas — Wandsworth’s failure to be transparent about this year’s rise has raised serious questions.
Stay with Putney.news as we continue to hold local leaders accountable. See below for more examples of stories we have run highlighting the Labour-run council’s Trumpian approach to the truth.
