A SLIGHT increase in the council tax base could see more money coming into Blaenau Gwent council’s coffers next year.
At a meeting of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council’s Labour council on Monday, November 24, senior councillors received a report on the council tax base for the 2026/2027 financial year.
Setting the base is an annual legal requirement and traditionally kicks off the budget setting process, which will finish usually in late February or early March.
This is when the budget and council tax for the next financial year is voted on at a full council meeting.
The report shows that after applying the formula the base will expand to 21,210.13 in the county borough from this year’s 21,197.98.
One of the issues faced by Blaenau Gwent is that the calculation is based on a Band D equivalent Council Tax and the county borough has a substantially higher proportion of properties in Band A or B.
The report also explains that the council expects a 95.5 per cent council tax collection rate for next year.
Council leader Cllr Steve Thomas (Labour – Tredegar) who presented the report said: “This is the technical calculation that underpins next year’s budget.
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“Our tax base for 2026/2027 sees a small increase, mainly due to the normal movement in new homes, exemptions, discounts and banding changes.”
He stressed that at this stage, the budget and council tax level for next year have not been agreed and setting the base just provides the “basis for calculating options” from next February.
“A slightly higher council tax base gives us a bit more room in the budget setting process,” said Cllr Thomas.
Deputy council leader Cllr Helen Cunningham (Labour – Llanhilleth) brought up the section in the report which explains what help is available for people struggling to pay their Council Tax bill due to the cost-of-living crisis.
From April 1, 2026, the Welsh Government will amend Council Tax recovery legislation.
This change will give households 63 days to address missed Council Tax payments before enforcement action can be taken.
Cllr Cunningham: “There’s going to be some legislation that will ease that burden on families which is welcome, but it will have a knock-on effect for us.”
She asked if this had been considered by the council yet.
Director of Corporate Services and s151 officer Rhian Hayden said: “The impact is yet to be determined, we are anticipating it will slightly elongate the recovery process for us.
“It will set specific timelines to when a debt is initially incurred and when we can send the first and second reminders.
“I would hope it doesn’t have a significant impact on us as we do try and support our residents as much as we can by giving them additional time to pay arrears – if they evidence need and vulnerability.”
Miss Hayden added that she would provide a briefing on this change in the run up to the budget setting next year.
Cllr Thomas added: “It’s the right thing to be doing.”
Cabinet went ahead and approved the Council Tax base.
