Reform UK-led Lancashire County Council proposes increasing council tax by 3.8%

The ruling party will likely declare increasing council tax by less than the maximum-permitted amount as a victory

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Council tax in Lancashire - the bit you pay to Lancashire County Council, which makes up the majority - will likely increase by 3.8% if Reform UK’s draft budget is approved.

Given the scale of their majority at County Hall, it is hard to imagine any other outcome.

Reform UK in Lancashire will likely point to a victory - increasing council by less than the maximum allowed amount is something other Reform UK councils have not managed to achieve.

But opposition councillors say that they overpromised on the campaign trail - with many promising to freeze or even slash council tax (though Cllr Atkinson, Reform UK’s leader, did not).

This is a snap response to the council’s budget proposals that were published on Wednesday morning - you can expect further coverage in future editions of The Lancashire Lead.

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Reform UK-led Lancashire County Council proposes increasing council tax by 3.8%

Cllr Stephen Atkinson at County Hall

By Luke Beardsworth

Reform UK leaders at Lancashire County Council plan to increase council tax by 3.8% if the draft budget is approved at a meeting of the full council next month.

The move will likely see Reform UK heavily criticised by an opposition who feel that the party overpromised on the campaign trail.

The draft budget for 2026/27, which will be presented to full council on 26 February, sees council tax increase with the view that it will allow the council to secure improvement to SEND services and manage the increased costs associated with that, manage to consequences of investing in government and commercial bonds and further invest in frontline services.

In addition, Reform UK will present savings worth £62m to be delivered in 2026/27 as part of an ‘ongoing efficiency review’ against a net budget of £1.324bn, which are hardly the DOGE-level savings that were promised.

The increase in council tax will mean that the average household (band D) will pay £1,801.75 rather than the 1,735.79 it paid in 2025/26. This does not include the elements of your council tax bill that are paid to your borough or city council, the police and crime commissioner, the fire authority or your parish/town council in some areas.

The report says that the two key elements of additional costs are the inflation in the economy generally and growth in demand for services - in particular adult social care.

The council tax increase of 3.8% is less than the 4.99% that has been recommended by the majority of Reform UK controlled authorities for the next financial year, and is smaller than the increase hinted at by Cllr Ged Mirfin, Reform UK’s cabinet member for resources, HR and property, when speaking to The Guardian last year.

When asked whether council tax would increase by 4.99%, he did not deny that and added: “I think you can probably guess.”

But the situation has been complicated since that stage by the government’s Fair Funding Review which ultimately means that Lancashire County Council has more money to spend over the next three years than it would otherwise have.

An internal briefing note shared with The Lancashire Lead indicated that for the 2026/27 financial year there would be a 6.5% increase in the council’s core spending power - but that working included an assumption that council tax would rise by 4.99%.

Cllr Aidy Riggott, the leader of the Conservatives at Lancashire County Council, said that residents will be surprised to see council tax going up at all, given ‘Reform’s pre-election pledges’.

He told The Lancashire Lead: “A quick review of the budget papers appears to show that due to the very strong performance of the Pension Fund under the Conservatives, cost pressures have reduced for Reform by circa £14m a year. Furthermore, Government funding has increased by circa £26m a year.

“So, my initial reflection is this, why if Reform are £40m a year better off due to the decisions of past Conservative administrations and the current Government, have they only reduced the increase in Council Tax by around £8.2m?

“Where has the rest gone to and where are the much-vaunted DOGE savings?