How the precept translates to Council Tax
Each year parish councils tell the district council how much income they need to raise from Council Tax. This is called their ‘precept’ and is worked out towards the end of each preceding financial year (usually in December or January), in preparation for the new financial year which begins on 1 April.
The precept is paid out to town and parish councils from Cannock Chase Council’s General Fund and the district council then recover the sum by setting a parish tax, charged to all householders within the boundaries of the particular parish area.
The charge made to each householder is carefully calculated using the formula:
Precept (total annual value requested by the parish council) divided by Tax Base (a figure, which has been carefully calculated by the District Council).
The answer to the calculation provides the annual charge for Band D parish homes. The other Bands are portioned accordingly:
The portion of Band D tax payable to the following Bands is: A 6/9, B 7/9, C 8/9, D 1, E 11/9, F 13/9, G 15/9, H 2 .
Cannock Chase Council is the billing authority and collects Council Tax on behalf of a number of precepting authorities. Each of these public bodies charge Council Tax to support the financing of their particular range of services. The main services each organisation provides (or is responsible for), broadly are:
Cannock Chase Council
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Waste collection and recycling
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Collection of Council Tax and Business Rates
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Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction
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Support for the Homeless
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Parks and open spaces
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Planning and building control
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Maintains car parks
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Environmental health
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Leisure services (contracted out)
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Election administration
Stoke on Trent & Staffordshire Fire & Rescue Authority
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Risk analysis and planning
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Engaging with all of the community
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Culture, leadership and learning
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Prevent, protect, road safety and community well-being
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Response and resilience
Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner Staffordshire
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Helps make Staffordshire safer
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Helps reduce crime
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Promotes community safety
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Investigates and detects crime
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Works to reduce the number of casualties on the roads
Staffordshire County Council
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Manages schools, nurseries and children’s centres
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Childcare help
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Provides adult social care
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Trading standards advice
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Highway maintenance
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Promotes regeneration
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Provides a ranges of cultural services
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Waste disposal
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Public health
Parish Councils
Parish and town councils can provide many services using their legal powers. However, there is no legal duty to provide these facilities (in the way that other tiers of local government have a duty to provide the services they offer). There is however one exception – allotments. There is a legal duty for parish councils to provide allotment gardens if demand is unsatisfied and it is reasonable to do so.
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Allotments
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Baths and washhouses
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Burial grounds, cemeteries and crematoria
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Bus shelters
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Making byelaws
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Act as charity trustees
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Clocks
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Maintain closed churchyards
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Commons and common pastures
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Conference facilities
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Community centres
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Crime prevention
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Drainage
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Entertainment and the arts
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Highways (repair/maintain public footpaths, bridleways, light roads and public places, litter bins, parking places, roadside seats and shelters, traffic signs, planting)
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Honorary titles (power to admit to be honorary freemen/freewomen of the councils area, persons of distinction and persons who have made a significant contribution)
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Litter
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Lotteries
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Markets
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Mortuaries and post mortem rooms
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Newsletters
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Nuisances
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Acquire land for public recreation and open spaces
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Parish property and public buildings (for public meetings and assemblies)
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Public conveniences
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Recreation
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Town and country planning
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Tourism
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Traffic calming
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Community transport schemes
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War memorials
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Water supply
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Well-being (anything likely to achieve the promotion or improvement of the economic and /or social and /or environmental well-being of the area)