Cornwall Council’s Liberal Democrat / Independent coalition cabinet has okayed a maximum council tax increase for Cornish residents but has said “it’s not our fault”.

Taking into account continued increase in demand for council services and the financial pressures it faces, a draft budget for 2026/27 has been prepared on the basis of a 4.99 per cent increase – 2.99 per cent of that will go towards general services and 2 per cent towards adult social care. It’s likely to be fully approved in February next year.

It will add around £1.91 per week to a Band D property, but will also add about £27-million of recurrent income to the council’s budget.

The cabinet – which met for the final time this year at Lys Kernow (County Hall) in Truro today (Wednesday, December 17) – stressed the maximum increase allowed was down to the Government and not Cornwall’s councillors.

Government policy assumes that all councils will increase council tax to the maximum amount possible. The maximum 4.99 per cent increase is likely to be made for the following two financial years until 2029 too.

The council’s Lib Dem leader Cllr Leigh Frost said: “None of us want to raise household bills, but to be clear, without this income, we would not be able to sustain the services so many people rely on every day.”

During a debate about the 2026/27 draft budget proposals, fellow Lib Dem councillor Steven Wells said: “From the outside, for years seeing a 4.99 per cent increase every year used to make me really mad at Cornwall Council.

“People are really suffering and seeing another increase again above the average increase of wages and all that is really frustrating.

“Now, from the inside, it makes me even more angry due to the fact we don’t have much of a choice because the government expects councils to put it up by 4.99 per cent otherwise they could potentially lose money.

“I want to put it out there – people are really suffering but it isn’t our fault that we have to do this.”

Cllr Frost responded: “We’re all residents of Cornwall sat around this table. We all pay council tax, we feel it just like every other person outside this room.”

He stressed that the figure contains a ringfenced 2 per cent for adult social care. “I haven’t met a single person yet who has disagreed with that 2 per cent, but when you have inflationary pressures of above 3 per cent and we can only legally increase by 2.99 per cent it doesn’t take a genius to work out that that means difficult times for councils.

“I’d love to sit here and say we’re freezing council tax, but we’re not in that world and we’re not in that space.”

He said the situation wasn’t helped by uncertainty from the government over its Local Government Finance Settlement (LGFS), which is due for release later this week, with the final settlement not anticipated until early 2026.

A change of Government tack to remove an element aiding rural councils is expected to impact Cornwall Council, though this has been considered when coming up with a balanced budget for the year ahead.

The cabinet is proposing savings of around £50-million in 2026/27 – rising to £133-million over the full three-year period.

However, it is also making investments, including over £36-million in children’s social care and over £37-million to continue the transformation of its adult social care services.

For 2026/27 the council is also proposing:

The council’s budget will increase from £842-million in 2025/26 to £958-million in 2028/29.

Cllr Frost pointed out that the council continues to fund a Council Tax Support scheme for households which are financially vulnerable, supplemented by an exceptional relief scheme for those requiring additional financial support, along with a range of advice and support internally and from partners.

At the same meeting, the cabinet agreed to support a 4.8 per cent rent rise for tenants of 10,400 council-owned properties to help meet regulatory standards and pay for damp and mould improvements and other works to meet the ‘decent homes standard’.

A small protest was held outside Lys Kernow before the meeting calling for a “needs budget” to replace its funding system to benefit parents of children with special educational needs and/or disability (SEND).

The protest, organised by Cornwall Trades Council, also called for Cornwall’s housing crisis to be addressed by building social housing using a new in-house Public Works Department.