A likely increase in council tax to help fund social care has been labelled the Prime Minister's "poor tax".

Ministers are expected to announce on Thursday that local authorities will be allowed to raise council tax 6% over the next two years to raise cash for elderly and disabled care.

It would see the average bill rise by nearly £100 over the next two years: a 3% increase to the average band D property amounts to an extra £45.80 a year.

John Clancy, leader of Birmingham City Council, told Sky News that it was "just a further tax on the poor" in his city.

He added: "Margaret Thatcher had her poll tax, Theresa May is introducing a poor tax.


"Using council tax as a way to raise money for adult social care is a way that actually the poorest people in our big cities pay more."

NHS pressured by social care shortfall

Mr Clancy said "regrettably" his council would probably have to impose the increase, but that it was "just a sticking plaster over something that needs major surgery".

The leader of the country's biggest council added: "I think the Government has actually finally woken up to the crisis but I'm afraid its response is wholly inadequate."

Former chancellor George Osborne announced in November 2015 that councils would be able to increase the tax by 2% a year between 2016/17 and 2019/20 to raise almost £2bn for social care.

But under the new plans, councils are expected to be allowed to front-load those increases to bring in more money sooner.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said the Prime Minister should scrap plans to cut corporation tax from 20% to 17% to plug the social care gap.

At Prime Minister's Questions, he told her to "get a grip" and said the system was "deep in crisis".

Mrs May has acknowledged "immediate pressures on social care" and said they would be addressed on Thursday - in the provisional local government finance settlement for England.

Social care funding has fallen by 9% in real terms over the past five years, with local government blaming it on the cuts in central government funding.

This has had a knock-on effect for the NHS with old and frail patients increasingly being admitted to hospital because of a lack of community provision.

Councils have warned that even if every local authority imposed the maximum extra levy, social care will still face a funding gap of at least £2.6bn by 2020.