The majority of households face council tax rises this year, the country's most senior local authority leader warns today, as councils across the country prepare to capitalise on the Conservatives' relaxation of a cap on bills.

Writing for The Telegraph, Lord Porter, the Tory peer who chairs the Local Government Association, says he expects that "the majority will have little choice" but to increase bills in April to protect services amid a £2.3 billion "funding gap" in the social care system.

Research by The Sunday Telegraph shows that a series of local authorities have already decided to increase bills by a new maximum amount of six per cent, with hikes of up to £80, after ministers lifted the cap from 5 per cent in December Lord Porter warns ministers to invest more in social care instead of "skewing" funding towards the NHS.

His intervention comes after which Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, urged the Prime Minister to spend an extra £100 million a week on the health service, during last week's Cabinet meeting.