Cambridgeshire County Council has apologised for a mistake made in information it has sent to District and City Councils about its council tax precepts for 2023-24.
“A genuine human error led to the percentages notified to district and city councils for general council tax of 2.99% and that for the adult social care precept of 2% being reversed,” explained Tom Kelly, the Council’s Service Director for Finance and Procurement.
Although these two parts of the County Council’s tax are required by law to be shown separately on bills, the amount households pay is calculated by combining them both.
The Council has confirmed -
- no Council taxpayer will be charged the incorrect amount
- no additional action will be needed by individuals or households
As the billing authorities, some of Cambridgeshire’s five district or city councils have already started to print their council tax bills, which are due to arrive with households in the coming weeks, but others haven’t.
All households will receive information with their council tax bill showing the correct breakdown - and the County Council is currently working with district and city councils on any remedial action needed.
It will be a few weeks before any costs of this action will be known.
Tom Kelly said: “As soon as we spotted the mistake, we let the billing authorities and our elected Members know.
“I am extremely sorry that this has occurred, and we are fully reviewing our internal controls to prevent this happening again.”
