What makes the increase possible?

Government permission above the cap 

• Normally in England council tax rises are capped at 4.99% but, as part of our application for 'exceptional finiancial support' (EFS), we asked if we could increase this

• Government gave Shropshire permission to increase by an additional 4%, meaning an 8.99% total increase, which was then approved by full council on 26 February 2026

What an increase will do 

• This additional 4% will raise approximately £8.8m in additional income

• This will help us to reduce the amount we need to borrow, lowering interest costs in future years

• If we don’t increase council tax we'd need to borrow more money, which would cost us more to pay back over time. It could also mean that we'd have no choice but to issue a 'Section 114' notice and have commissioners come in and control our council

• Even with this increase, a budget gap remains, because Shropshire is one of the worst‑affected councils in England in terms of reduced government funding

• We froze council tax for six whole years (from 2010 to 2016). This meant that we received less income during this period, and has led to a knock-on effect in recent years, and contributed to our current financial pressures

 It is not a decision we wanted to make, but it’s the only responsible option to protect essential services.