GOVERNMENT spending cuts and a shake up of the benefits system could force up Council Tax bills across West Somerset, with parish and town councils bearing the brunt.

While West Somerset Council has indicated it could put up its share of bills by 3.7 per cent this year, some parishes and towns could be forced to implement double figure increases at the 11th hour.

Precept levels should be finalised in the next few weeks but district, parish and town councillors could find themselves scrabbling to make decisions with just days to spare after the Government shifted numerous goalposts in the days and weeks before Christmas.

The main problem has stemmed from the Government's decision to abolish the existing national Council Tax benefit system and replace it with district council-led local Council Tax Support schemes.

Councils have been told they can no longer include homes receiving the benefit payments in their wider Council Tax base calculations, meaning authorities will lose hundreds of thousands of pounds of Council Tax income.

The Government has agreed to give a grant to district councils to cover the lost funding, but the money falls short of the amount that would be needed to completely bridge the gap.

Equally, district councils do not have to pass the grant money on to parish and town councils, which will also lose income and could have to increase their share of Council Tax bills by as much as ten or 20 per cent if they do not receive the grant money.

In turn, reduced Government funding for the Council Tax Support scheme will see some benefit claimants receiving a reduced package of benefit aid with local councils left to pick up funding shortfalls.

The Government has also stipulated that pensioners' benefits must not be affected, creating a double-whammy for the remaining Council Taxpayers in West Somerset due to the district's high proportion of senior citizens.

At Wednesday's meeting of West Somerset's cabinet, councillors were told that while the Government had estimated a ten per cent average reduction in Council Tax benefit payments nationally, locally that figure could be nearer 25 per cent due to the ring-fenced payments to pensioners.

Cllr Kate Kravis, the council's finance lead member, said it was unfair vulnerable people, particularly families, would be hardest hit by the changes.

Councillors were told the district council would have to find an extra £200,101 to limit Council Tax Support scheme claimants' entitlement to 85 per cent of their bills, a figure the cash-strapped authority could not afford.

Limiting entitlement to 70 per cent would still leave the council with a £47,313 shortfall.

The fact the authority is already on course to have made more than £435,000 in savings in the last two years alone

due to pre-existing budget constraints.

Opposition councillors Peter Murphy and Doug Ross suggested the £110,262 separate Government grant given to the district to compensate parish and town councils for the reduction in the Council Tax base should be retained by the district council to help the benefits claimants.

Cllr Murphy said using the grant would enable the district council to limit Council Tax Support entitlement to 85 per cent rather than 70 per cent.

"As a council it would be morally right to pass this on to the parish and town councils, but you could also take the moral view that it would be better spent on this [the Council Tax Support scheme]," Cllr Murphy said.

He was supported by Cllr Ross who said the least able members of society would be asked to help the council meet the funding shortfall by receiving reduced Council Tax benefits payments.

Cabinet members agreed to leave a final decision on whether to pass on the grant to parish and town councils to the full council when it met on January 23.

Cllr Kravis said parish and town councils worked hard for their residents and believed the moral thing to do was to pass on the grant to them.

She said district councillors had been unable to "sit down sensibly" to try and find solutions to the various funding pressures as the Government had only confirmed its funding allocation for local authorities on December 19.

It was also only then that the council realised it would be able to increase its own share of Council Tax bills by 3.7 per cent rather than the previous two per cent capping limit stipulated by the Government.

If approved by full council, the district authority's 3.7 per cent rise would equate to an additional £4.92 on a Band D property, with any parish and town council increases on top of that.