A FIVE per cent increase in Herefordshire’s council tax, coupled with a £20m cut in spending, is now almost certain from April.

Herefordshire Council’s draft budget for 2026/27 sets out an increase in band D property charges to £2,067.63, up £8.19 per month for householders in the county.

Council leader Jonathan Lester (Con, Three Crosses) said the Government’s three-year “fair funding settlement” means maximum 5 per cent rises for the following two years as well – though other local authorities “are looking at 10 per cent rises – an idea we’re not entertaining”.

Chief executive Paul Walker said the Government’s settlement leaves the county with a “huge challenge” which will require £20m more in savings next year.

“We will continue to drive down costs, including through use of technology,” Coun Lester said.

“We are also proposing not to appoint to vacancies within the council. That will have an impact on service delivery, but it has to be in proportion.”

Mr Walker added: “Given the size of the challenge, there is no one silver bullet. But we need to ask, do we need as many people?”

Meanwhile initiatives such as creating new emergency accommodation in the county “means capital spending to reduce revenue costs”, he explained.

And with the new contract to look after the county’s roads from June, “we will make sure we deliver value for money”, Coun Lester added.

The draft budget will be discussed by the council’s Cabinet ahead of a full meeting of councillors in February.

Coun Lester added: “For a long time we’ve been in the mindset of needing to be financially sustainable. That means we are able to weather the storm in local government funding.”

“Each year we face the need to make savings,” Mr Walker added. “Last year we were the first authority to have our accounts signed off, for the third year running. That puts us in a strong position.”

Coun Terry James, Liberal Democrats council leader, warned: “Even with these measures, it will be very difficult for the council.”

He said year-on-year above-inflation rises in council tax “can’t go on” and accused the government of “hiding behind a system to put taxes up indirectly”.

Adult social care remains the largest part of the council budget, as “people retire here and we have to pay for it” – yet this was not acknowledged in the Government’s funding formula, he added.

Accusing the Government of “redistributing funding from struggling rural areas to struggling urban areas”, Greens leader Coun Stef Simmons said her group “recognise Herefordshire Council has no choice but to plug the gap with the maximum increase in council tax, but this won’t be enough”.

By pressing on with the Hereford bypass project, the Conservative administration was “making these cuts worse by choosing to borrow tens of millions”.

Independents for Herefordshire leader Coun Liz Harvey said the Labour government “continues to dodge its responsibility to fully fund education and social care from national taxation”.

Herefordshire will get just 77 per cent of its current central funding figure by 2028/29, according to calculations.