Council tax bills in Medway will rise by 12.5%, it was announced on Wednesday.

Medway Council has said the increase in its share of the tax is needed after cuts in grants from the government.

The figure is the same as the increase announced by neighbouring Kent County Council two weeks ago.

The government increased its overall subsidy to Medway Council - a unitary authority since 1998 - by �10m in its settlement for the next financial year.

They are giving with one hand and taking away with the other Alan Jarratt, deputy leader of the council

But the Conservatives, who lead the council, have said this is not enough to balance a loss of about �6m in separate government grants awarded in previous years for education.

Councillor Alan Jarratt, deputy leader of the council, said the problem was that the extra �10m subsidy was to cover all services and did not make up for the grants that education had lost.

He said: "There are still other grants we can apply for, but in terms of our net funding position it's pretty poor.

Ninth lowest

"It will work out per pupil at about 0.7% increase which is not even a stand-still figure.

"If it was a �10m settlement in addition to the normal grants it wouldn't be so bad, but instead they are giving with one hand and taking away with the other."

The government's education settlement for Medway at 3.2% - compared with 6% in the last settlement - is the ninth lowest in Britain.

Government funding for the next financial year totals �192m, up from �182m this year, with the council tax payer funding the rest of the annual budget of �262m.