I can’t see anything published with a breakdown but from googling it’s a catch all category from telling people to lead healthier lives to mental health support.
If the Social care and Health improvement are taken from a Gov pot and was centrally managed then essentially the council should be just managing services like libraries, registrations and getting the trash collected.
2%
“Libraries, cultural, other services”
4%
Waste disposal / recycling
I mean the emergency services are just a small top-up on the centrally funded, and the highways are separately managed.
The current system feels like 
it’s being used correctly. The visibility that the councils exist to me is that I put out a bin once a week and it gets emptied.
Would it be any different if instead of £200 that £160 was taken via salary based on my income each month like NI, and council tax was £40 instead (for everyone in the area).
Either way I think a move from how much your home was potentially worth decades ago needs to be scrapped.
It needs to be on the person not the home.
Exactly. Council tax should be reduced and should only cover the local things used by most of us.
Hard disagree!
Yes because this would be according to each person’s ability to pay, and would be for broadly centrally controlled services.
Not based on your home value in 1994.
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With the hard disagree how to you see that your money is being correctly spent?
As mentioned me having my bins collected and I guess voting are the only reminders the council is a thing.
To me it’s complete trust that the almost two half grand I’m giving them a year is being used correctly.
There’s zero visibility on what actions are being taken and almost zero public consultation on anything.
When we have public consultation the results are disregarded if not in favour of what was already planned. It doesn’t appear the colour of the political party has any impact whatsoever.
It might be accounted for the last penny with sensible spending where needed, or could be being completely spaffed and directed into mates pockets.
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Well, some of it is. Only about 50% of local council income is council tax, the rest is central grants and business rates which are distributed based on national formula.
This is part of the mess really. It’s hugely complex and very opaque as to where money comes from and where it goes.
I’m lucky enough not to live with this ambiguity. I live in Tower Hamlets where an openly corrupt mayor is in charge of everything, so we know for certain it’s the latter 
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I don’t.
I’m not sure how you meant to come across but saying “I think (fingers crossed) that current system feels like it is being used correctly” implies to me that you believe it’s the right amount and being spent correctly.
Good for those looking to remortgage/borrow though, although this was probably already priced in.
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Instant savings on our variable rate.
We’ve keep the repayment fixed so that we automatically overpay.
Don’t know if you mortgage or rent or own a home outright?
I’d take a £50 a month reduction in payments over losing a few pence in interest from a 0.25% drop.
When it comes to remortgaging I want the rate close to zero as possible and lock that in as long as possible.
The difference in a couple percent can mean thousands saved each year which for most will always trump interest on savings.
Let’s see it back at 3% 
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Mine’s up for renewal in Sep/Oct time, hoping for some more drops before then 
My payments went up close to 50% last time.
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I was on a variable boe base rate plus 1.75% or something like that.
Which was all fine for a decade until the boe rate exploded.
Luckily grabbed a 4% fixed for 5 years. But should have jumped sooner in hindsight.
If I had stuck on var would have cost me many thousands extra a year.
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Oh boy 
I’m gonna guess neither.
I’m coming up for renewals on renting and then it’s a year before we buy so anything that helps is good on my side!
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I’m on base plus 0.49.
It was all gravy for the best part of a decade but my repayments basically doubled over the last few years.
Always felt like I missed the boat on fixing on the way up (obviously wrong in hindsight) but happy to take the savings now.
This reminds me of autumn 2008. I’d just renewed my mortgage and chose a tracker when the base rate was around 5.00%. By the next spring it had gone down to 0.50%
I did 5 year fix when really I should have done 10.
Hindsight is 20/20.
Same, still two years left at 2.03%
At least our second mortgage (nursery fees) would have ended by then.
We’ve been fixing for 2 years the last few times. We’re up for renewal this March, so good news for us as it should mean we’re paying even less again.
It’s an absolute joke.
£360 a year for single me.
How else are they going to pay the dividends? 
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