Labour council warned of ‘potential to mislead’ taxpayers over frozen tax claim
Wandsworth has frozen council tax rates for general services, but has increased a precept to fund social care by 2%.
A Labour-run council has been warned its claim to have frozen council tax for four years in a row has “the potential to mislead” taxpayers, by the nation’s statistics authority.
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The UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) has written to Wandsworth Council about the claim made in promotional materials released over the last few months.
In videos, leaflets and press releases, the Labour-run south London council said it is freezing council tax for the fourth consecutive year.
But in a letter to the council, the UKSA’s interim chairwoman Penny Young warned that the claim did not meet with the Standard For The Public Use of Statistics, Data And Wider Analysis, which is part of a wider code of practice maintained by the authority.
Since Labour won power in the London borough in 2022, Wandsworth has frozen council tax rates for general services.
But in the latest financial year, it has increased a precept to fund social care by 2%, while the Greater London Authority (GLA) has also increased tax intake in the borough.
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Two senior Conservative politicians, Lord Udny-Lister and Sir Paul Beresford, the former MP for Mole Valley, argued in a letter to the UKSA that the borough could not claim to have frozen tax for four years running because of these tax increases.
In a letter to the UKSA calling for an assessment of the council’s claims, the pair described themselves as “Wandsworth Council taxpayers, Wandsworth voters, and previous leaders of Wandsworth Council”.
Responding to the concerns from the two men, UKSA chief Ms Young warned in her letter to the authority’s Labour leader Simon Hogg, that it had not been clear enough in its communications.
She said: “We find it is likely that people would understand the term ‘frozen’ to relate to an increase in their total council tax bill.
“While some of Wandsworth Council’s communications do refer to ‘the main element’ of council tax being frozen, they are unclear that residents’ council tax bills will still rise by a significant amount due to other local authority charges.”
She later added: “While separate pages of the Wandsworth Council website provide detail on how the adult social care precept and GLA charges affect the overall council tax bill, this important context lacking from many of the promotional materials being used to promote the ‘freeze’.
“This does not meet the supporting understanding standard within the Standards for Public Use and has the potential to mislead those whose council tax bills are affected.”
The “supporting understanding” standard of the UKSA’s rulebook says public bodies should “use statistics, data and wider analysis with integrity and communicate them with clarity and accuracy, so that the public can easily understand the basis for claims and decisions made”.
The probe sparked by two senior Conservatives comes ahead of what is expected to be a hotly contested election in Wandsworth on May 7.
Labour overturned decades of Tory dominance in the borough when it won control in 2022.
The Conservatives are hoping to undo this when voters go to the polls again this year.
Wandsworth has long boasted of having the lowest council tax in the UK for the average household.
The average band D rate is currently £990.07 a year, rising to £1,020.35 for the 2026/27 financial year.
A Wandsworth Labour spokesperson said: “Wandsworth Labour sets the lowest council tax in the country, and we are proud to have frozen it for the past four years.
“Our communications with residents makes clear we have frozen the main element of council tax.
“Sound financial management is at the heart of everything we do.
“Alongside freezing council tax, we have reduced flytipping by 20%, introduced free bulky waste collections and have the cleanest air quality in Wandsworth on record.”