What does Council Tax pay for?

The Council Tax you pay helps support a wide range of services provided by:

• Norfolk Constabulary (opens new window) - '"our priority is you".
• Norfolk Fire Service (opens new window) - "making Norfolk a safer place".
• Norfolk County Council (opens new window) - Children's Services, Community Services (including libraries), Environment, Transport and Development (including street lighting), Social Services and Public Health are a few of the services covered. Whilst Norfolk County Council continues to be responsible for Social Services, the cost of these services is listed separately on your bill.
• Town and parish councils - each town or parish council has different responsibilities.
• Breckland Council - a few of the services covered include Environmental Health, Housing, Planning, support for local businesses, wheelie bin collection and street cleaning. 

We all live in the district and benefit from many of these services, so every household gets a bill.

Spending Plan

Breckland's Spending Plan (PDF, 408 KB)(opens new window) focuses on our four priorities:

1. Inspiring Communities
2. Thriving Places
3. Breckland 2035
4. Working Smarter

TheAnglia Revenue Partnership (opens new window) provides Council Tax and Benefit services for Breckland and their website provides a wealth of detailed information on how the bill is calculated, including; what is Council Tax and how is it calculated, discounts, property bandings and appeals.

Town and parish precepts

The portion of your bill that goes to your town or parish council (known as the town or parish precept) varies from place to place. Larger Councils such as Attleborough, Dereham, Swaffham, Thetford and Watton are required topublish budget details.

Dereham, Thetford and Watton Town Councils have special arrangements for the payment of street lighting under the heading ofSpecial Expenses.

A list of all Town and Parish Precepts (PDF, 387 KB)(opens new window) including a comparison to the last financial year is also available.

In relation to the year beginning in 2017 and any subsequent year, the following statement:

"The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has made an offer to adult social care authorities. ("Adult social care authorities" are local authorities which have functions under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014, namely county councils in England, district councils for an area in England for which there is no county council, London borough councils, the Common Council of the City of London and the Council of the Isles of Scilly.)

The offer was the option of an adult social care authority being able to charge an additional "precept" on its council tax without holding a referendum, to assist the authority in meeting its expenditure on adult social care from the financial year 2016 to 17. It was originally made in respect of the financial years up to and including 2019 to 20. If the Secretary of State chooses to renew this offer in respect of a particular financial year, this is subject to the approval of the House of Commons."