Local Government
At the moment there are three levels of local government, County Council or Unitary Authority, District Councils and Parish Councils.
County Councils are mostly shire areas and provide most public services, Education, Social Services, Public Transport and Libraries.
County Councils are divided into several district councils. These councils provide more local services like council housing, local planning and waste collection.
Unitary Authorities operate in larger towns and cities of England. They also operate in smaller counties. Where a Unitary Authority is in place it is the sole authority. Therefore Unitary Authorities can act as either a County council or as a County council or district council combined.
London is slightly different in that each borough is a Unitary Authority, but the Greater London Authority, (the mayor and the assembly), provides London-wide government with responsibility for certain services like transport and the police.
In some parts of England and Wales there are also town and parish councils. In Wales they are called community councils. There responsibilities lie with allotments, public toilets, parks and ponds, war memorials and local halls and community centres.
Joint Services
Some local authorities share services covering a wider area, like police, fire services and public transport. This may be done to avoid splitting up services when council structures are changed, or because some councils are too small to run an effective service on their own.
Every part of the UK is covered by a local authority fire and rescue service. Each of the 59 fire authorities must by law provide a firefighting service and must maintain a brigade to meet all normal requirements. Each fire authority appoints a Chief Fire Officer, or Firemaster in Scotland, who has day-to-day control of operations.
Financing of local government
Local government spending is about a quarter of all public spending in the UK. Local authorities are funded by a combination of grants from central government, Council Tax and business rates.
In Northern Ireland, district councils still raise money through a domestic rate and a business rate.
Grants
Central government (or the devolved government in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) provides specific and general grants to enable local authorities to deliver all the necessary services.
To divide up the funding, the government uses a system that takes into account the number and value of properties in each area, and how much it costs to provide services there.
Council Tax
Council Tax provides about a quarter of local funding. Local authorities set the total Council Tax they need to raise, based on their overall budget for the year. Each household pays an amount depending on the value of their home.
The government has powers to ensure that increases in local authority budgets and Council Tax are not excessive.
Business rates
Business rates are a property tax on businesses and other non-domestic properties. Their formal name is national non-domestic rates.
The national rates are set by central government. The revenue is collected by local authorities, pooled by central government, and then redistributed to local authorities.
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