Cash-strapped council to increase tax by 4.99%

Slough Borough Council is the last Berkshire council to approve its 2025/26 budget

A council has approved a budget that will see council tax rise by 4.99%.

Slough Borough Council is the last authority in Berkshire to sign off on its 2025/26 finances.

It comes after the council asked the government last month to make an exception so it could increase bills by almost 8%.

The authority effectively went bankrupt in 2021, raising its tax by 9.99% in 2023, and by 8.5% in 2024.

As reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, councils normally cannot raise council tax by more than 4.99% each year without a vote among residents.

Slough Borough Council had previously said the increase was necessary to "protect critical frontline services" and ensure its coming budget was "better aligned to the demand services are facing".

However, councillors have now approved a 4.99% increase, which is the maximum cap they had permission to enforce.

Elsewhere in the region, Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead councillors were granted permission to increase their tax by 8.99%.

The authority was one of six cash-strapped councils across the country allowed by the government.