SWINDON residents are set to see their council tax bill rise as the green light was given to bring forward increases totalling six per cent over the next two years to pay for social care.

Ministers agreed the rise, which will add a total of more than £90 to the average bill for a Band D property, this week. Communities secretary Sajid Javid said it would go towards an additional £900m funding for social care for the next two years.

Last year former chancellor George Osborne announced councils would be allowed to add a two per cent social care precept onto bills for four years to raise £2bn for care services.

Leader of Swindon Borough Council Coun David Renard said the rise in council tax was inevitable due to the severe shortage of social care funding.

“I assume that the vast majority of residents who do not use these social care services will probably not be very happy about these rises. They’ll probably feel they are paying for lots of services that they don’t use. But it is accepted that we all have a responsibility to help vulnerable or elderly people,” he said.

“We are looking at ever increasing financial pressures. We need around £5.4m for social care and if council tax was raised by 1 per cent that would only raise £800,000 which is not enough.”

The decision to form parish councils will also add to mounting council tax bills in the town. Swindon residents living in newly formed parishes will pay an additional parish precept. The council estimates it could be around £45 for a Band D property but it could be even more.

Now authorities will be able to impose the total six per cent rise over two years, rather than three, meaning a three per cent precept would be added to bills in 2017/18 and 2018/19 but there is no additional precept in 2019/20.

Coun Renard said a more permanent solution was needed solve the issue of social care funding. “Even if we were to implement this rise to the full extent there would still be an issue and that’s why this is only a short-term fix,” he said “The government needs to have a discussion and find a way to solve the problem of funding social care.”

The cost of providing care for vulnerable people will soon take up more than 80 per cent of the council’s budget. By offloading the cost of providing local services to the parish councils they will be better equipped to meet that demand.

The increases have been praised by charities supporting elderly and disabled recipients of social care. But unions warned the hike would create a “social care postcode lottery” as richer councils would be able to raise more cash from higher bills than those in disadvantaged areas where needs are greater.

The deputy chief executive of disability charity Sense, Richard Kramer, said the social care sector was “on the brink of collapse” and the council tax increase “will not raise enough funds to deliver adequate and sustainable services to all those who need them across the country”.