Council tax bills in Hammersmith & Fulham are set to rise by 6.4%. Hammersmith & Fulham's share of council tax will rise by 4.9%, which is likely to put Hammersmith & Fulham among a select few councils increasing their share of the tax bill by less than five per cent.

However, on top of this, it is expected the Mayor of London's precept will increase by 12%. The final result will be 6.4% increase in council tax, of which just 3.9% relates to an increase by the council.

"We intend this year to continue our well-established low-tax policy," says council leader, Councillor Andrew Slaughter. "Last year's increase was the 4th lowest out of 32 London boroughs. In the last seven years we have fallen from 7th highest to 26th in the London council tax league."

Schools are guaranteed an extra 5.5% in their budgets. There will be extra money too for crime reduction and community safety work and new funding for the council's Customer First programme which aims to make it easier and more convenient to use council services.

According to the Council, much of this extra spending will be funded through efficiency savings elsewhere. In last year's budget, "efficiency savings" meant 70% rise for parking charges and play care charges up by 156%, among many other increases, IT improvements and reduction of personnel.

An extra £652,000 will be put into the council's reserves, bringing balances up to £13.2m. There is also £173m pension fund deficit, which, according to Director of finance, Jane West, will be also covered with "efficiency savings".

The executive's budget proposal, published last week, is subject to scrutiny and approval by full council.

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