Council tax in one part of Kent could rise.

Medway Council leader Alan Jarrett hinted his authority would take advantage of changes to council's tax-raising powers in order to fund adult social care.

In the chancellor's Autumn statement, a provision was made for councils to increase council tax by up to 5% from April 2023.

Just under 2% of this is ring fenced to fund adult social care, and the other 3% funds general services.

If Medway Council increase council tax by 5%, the average bill for a band D household would rise by £79.59.

This is excluding any further rises from Kent Police, Kent Fire and Rescue Service, and parish councils.

Earlier this week, neighbouring authority Kent County Council said it is considering rising council tax by just under 5%.

Previously, councils couldn't raise council tax any higher than 2.99% without holding a local referendum.

Council leader Alan Jarrett (Con) hinted the council would at least take advantage of the 2% levy on adult social care, saying it would bring in an additional £2.84 million.

During a cabinet meeting yesterday, he said: "The government is making the assumption that all upper tier local authorities will take the 2% increase in the levy, notwithstanding it obviously has some political issues next to it.

"It goes deeper than that though, because if any upper tier local authorities don't take the 2% precept increase, the government in its subsequent workings will assume that you have because you have the opportunity to and the government is saying, 'that is what you should do'.

"If we choose not to do it, this council will pay for it in terms of its future budget assumptions and the way that government calculates our core spending power as they call it, which is an exercise, as we know, in smoke and mirrors and always has been."

He said councillors would be "obliged to consider the 2% increase as a given", before saying this will be debated further at a meeting next month when the council's draft budget for 2023-24 will be presented.

Cllr Jarrett also said he did not welcome the government's announcement on its plans to free up hospital beds, which was made earlier this week.

Under the plans, local areas will be given funding to buy up beds in care homes to help hospitals discharge patients who are fit to leave and ease pressure on the NHS.

The Tory said this would be a "short term fix" for the government, adding: "It's going to cause enormous pent up financial problems for the future.

"We saw it in Covid where, for absolutely the right reasons, the hospitals had to clear hospital beds as quickly as they could in order to make room for incoming Covid patients, and we all accept that.

"What I don't accept is the way that then in turn disrupted the provider market by the hospitals trusts paying well above the rate that local authorities do and afford to pay, and when that critical stage of Covid passed and the baton returned to local authorities we were, and still are, faced with a provider market which has great expectations in terms of placement costs, which we cannot possibly afford to meet.

"That is now going to be replicated; we are going to see that happen again, we are going to see the provider market disrupted even further and I suggest even more seriously than before."