Parish Precept Statement 2025/26
At a meeting of Holme Valley Parish Council on 3 February 2025, Councillors voted to set the annual household charge (average band D property) for the parish precept at £41.52 for the year 2025/26. This represents an average increase of £10.99 on the previous year, or 21 pence per week per household.
What is a Parish Council precept?
A parish council precept is a tax that parish councils charge their local electors to meet the budget requirements for their services. It is added to the Kirklees Council tax bill and is shown alongside other additions such as police, fire and social care. Parish Councils do not receive any direct funding from central government and rely on their precept plus any other income they generate from services or facilities they provide. The precept is based on the number of properties in a parish that are liable to pay council tax, and the amount varies depending on the services delivered by each parish council.
What does the Holme Valley Parish Council precept cover?
In the Holme Valley the precept funds local services not currently provided by the district council. This includes the funding of a Youth Worker dedicated to the Holme Valley, ownership and maintenance of the benches, bus shelters and adopted telephone boxes around the Holme Valley, a contribution to the operating costs of the Holme Valley bus services, ownership and operation of the public toilets in central Holmfirth, ownership and maintenance of the Civic in Holmfirth in partnership with Holmfirth Civic Community Trust, ownership, running costs and maintenance of Honley Library in partnership with the Friends of Honley Library, contributions to road safety schemes, provision of dog waste disposal bags, grants for community assets and building improvements such as sports clubs and community centres, grants to support events such as summer festivals and seasonal grants for decorations and village Christmas trees.
How is the household charge calculated?
Councillors work with the Responsible Finance Officer (RFO) to identify the expenditure needs for the year, taking in to account existing and planned services, commitments to assets, maintenance contracts, staff, existing reserves and so on. This forms the annual budget, and the total precept is calculated in relation to the requirements.
The household charge is then calculated based on the ‘Band D equivalent’ as band D is the middle band of Council Tax and represents the amount of Council Tax paid on an average property in the area. The Band D equivalent provides a measure for precepts in different councils to be compared.
How does this compare with other areas?
Not all areas have a parish precept household charge, but for those that do, the average in England for the year 2024/25 was £89.18 (on an average band D property) and the average in Yorkshire was £57.03.