Council Tax bill explained

Council Tax bill

Your Council Tax bill includes information such as:

• Council Tax account number
• property band
• annual cost breakdown
• any applicable discount claim
• any outstanding amount at the time the bill was created.

Council Tax precepts

You will also notice details about how money collected from Council Tax is used, called precepts. There are three precepts shown on your Council Tax bill.

The decision to set our general element and adult social care precepts was made at a council meeting on 22 February 2023. 

Bury Council general element

Our general element precept is noted as ‘Bury Council’ on your Council Tax bill. The general element of the Council Tax is used to pay for services we provide, including:

• Schools
• Social services for adults and children
• Bin collection
• Street cleaning
• Leisure services
• Parks
• Parking.

The Government sets the limit for how much the general element of Council Tax can increase each year.

For our 2023/24 financial year, we increased the general element by 2.99 percent. When a council wants to exceed the Government limit, a local referendum must be held before an increase to the general element can be introduced.

Adult Social Care Precept

The Government introduced this precept in April 2016 to allow councils to increase Council Tax to support their adult social care service provision, without needing to hold a local referendum.

For the adult social care precept in our borough, we set the amount allocated from Council Tax collected.

The Government reviews this precept every year, limiting how much extra revenue councils can raise. The limit is a percentage of Council Tax charged by a council in the previous year. For our current financial year, we increased this precept by 2 percent.

Your Council Tax bill shows the total cost of the adult social care precept and percentage set to calculate the portion of Council Tax allocated to the service for the current financial year.

When a precept has been set, this portion of Council Tax must also be allocated to adult social care in future years. This means that for 2023/24, our precept is a combination of the current financial year and the precept amounts charged since April 2016.

Mayoral Police and Crime Commissioner precept

The Mayor of Greater Manchester sets the Police and Crime Commissioner precept to financially support policing in the region. For 2023/24, the precept increased by 6.6 percent from the previous year.

Mayoral General Precept (including Fire Services)

The Mayor of Greater Manchester sets the Mayoral general precept. The amount collected goes toward the regional Fire and Rescue service and a contribution to fund the Mayor and the functions he is responsible for. For 2023/24, the precept increased by 4.9 percent from the previous year.