Extra £224k for council to post bills first class

A local authority says it will have to spend about an extra £224,000 sending out people's council tax bills by first class post, rather than second class, this year.

Somerset Council said it was because the government confirmed the authority's financial settlement for the upcoming financial year later than expected.

Speaking in a BBC Radio Somerset Hotseat interview, the council's Lib Dem leader Bill Revans said: "If we could just get government to work better with local government we could save money very easily."

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said it was making £78bn available for council finances next year "to help fix the funding crisis we inherited".

It said £743m would be available for Somerset Council by 2028-29.

"Decisions on Exceptional Financial Support were made in line with the timing of decisions in previous years, and ahead of the 11 March statutory deadline for the council's budget setting," said a spokesperson.

"Because the financial settlement came late it means we've had to move our council meetings by a week, which also means that we're going to have to send the council tax bills out first class, rather than second class," said Revans.

"I'm not talking about blame necessarily, I'm just saying: 'Can we co-operate a bit better so we can save public money?'," he added.

Somerset Council was given special permission by the government on 23 February to sell-off buildings and other assets it owns, and spend £25m raised in that way on day-to-day services.

Its final meeting to set the authority's budget for 2026/27 is taking place on Wednesday. Council tax bills need to reach residents before the end of March.

Karen Green from Wellington has terminal cancer and gets a reduction on her council tax bill.

She recently received two letters in quick succession from the council, confirming she had paid her bill, and told Radio Somerset the second included "capital red letters".

"I thought their wording was aggressive, threatening and made me think: 'What have I done wrong? Are you going to charge me for something else?'," she said.

Responding in the Hotseat interview Revans apologised.

"I've asked that we do not use red ink on letters around council tax again because I think that sends a very difficult message for people who might be thinking that's in any way threatening," he said.

"I'm confident that this time next year I'll be speaking to you with a balanced budget without the use of one-off resources," said Revans.

Somerset Council has needed special government support for the last three years in order to balance its books.

"We are a long way further away from bankruptcy than we were two and a half years ago," he added.

"If Somerset just becomes a retirement home for people from the south east and our really bright people go off to university, get high-powered jobs elsewhere and never come back to Somerset - if our economy works like that, there's no future for Somerset," said Revans.

He was talking about the potential benefits from the UK's biggest gigafactory, which will produce electric car batteries, and is being built by a company called Agratas, near Bridgwater.

"We've got to transform the way our economy works and by having these green jobs at the Agratas factory, that will be fantastic for Somerset," Revans said.