What is a precept?
Each year in January, the City of Durham Parish must decide its budget for the forthcoming financial year and submit a precept request to Durham County Council. The Precept is a tax that Parish Council’s charge their local electors to meet their budget requirements. Parish Councils do not receive any direct funding from central government and rely on their Precept plus any other income they generate from services or facilities they provide. The Parish Council Precept is part of the Council Tax and is collected from local electors via their Council Tax payments.
How is it Calculated?
The Precept requirement is the difference between the Parish Council’s estimated income and its anticipated spending requirements for the financial year (its budget). The financial year runs from 1st April to 31st March. The Parish Council needs to agree a budget before it can set its Precept and both must be agreed by the full Parish Council.
When calculating the Precept, the City of Durham Parish Council takes into consideration:
– current year’s spending levels – for ongoing services for which it is responsible e.g. recreation facilities, lighting, cemeteries, insurance and cost of the Parish Office
– costs of any additional spending plans or projects
– provision for contingencies and reserves
– levels of anticipated income – from services for which it is responsible e.g. rental income, allotment fees, burial fees, grants
Currently there is no cap on the amount that Parish Councils can raise via their precept (District
Councils and County Councils are capped at 4.99%). Parish Councils should be able to explain and justify larger precept increases.
Tax base and Band D equivalent
Part of the Precept Calculation is the ‘Band D equivalent’. Band D is the middle band of Council Tax and is supposed to represent the amount of Council Tax paid on an average property in the area. Council Tax base is calculated by taking the number of houses in the City of Durham Parish Council area, allocating a weight to them based on their council tax banding and adding up the total of the weighted households. For example, higher council tax band properties carry a higher weighting and lower council tax base properties carry a lower council tax weighting. The Council Tax Base can therefore fluctuate from year to year based on the number of properties in each area. For example, council tax base will increase if any new houses have been built and the occupants have started to pay council tax but may decrease if for example any houses have been demolished in an area or have changed their use from Use Class C3 to Use Class C4 or sui generis (non-tax paying Use Classes).
City of Durham Parish Council budgets and precept
Financial year 2023/24
City of Durham Parish Council budget 2023-24
Total precept and charge by Council tax band 2023-24
Financial year 2022/23
City of Durham Parish Council budget 2022-23
Total precept and charge by Council tax band 2022-23
Financial year 2021/22
City of Durham Parish Council budget 2021-22
Total precept and charge by Council tax band 2021-22