London households to be hit with Council Tax increase – to pay for new Met officers

London households are set to be hit with higher Council Tax in 2023 in part to pay for more Metropolitan Police officers.

Sadiq Khan announced this morning that he was proposing a £38.55 increase on the average Band D house in the capital.

He has the power to put top-up ‘precepts’ on local council bills to pay for London-wide services.

An extra £15 is set to be added in 2023 to pay for reform and recruitment in the Metropolitan Police, with a further £20 added to plug the gaps in Transport for London’s coffers.

A further £3.55 will go towards the Fire Brigade.

The Met Police tax hike – which will raise £29.3m – will fund 500 community support officers in areas of the capital with higher crime rates.

The move comes just days after yet another Met Police officer was embroiled in scandal.

David Carrick committed dozens of rapes whilst a serving Met Police officer. He was able to stay in uniform despite being nicknamed “Bastard Dave” by colleagues.

And Wayne Couzens, another Met officer, raped and murdered Sarah Everard in 2021.

Then-Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick was sacked in the aftermath of Couzens’ offences and another scandal involving offensive WhatsApp messages passed between officers.

“Bearing down on violent crime and making our city safer for everyone remains my number one priority. The extra funding for the police will go directly towards putting an additional 500 Police Community Support Officers into neighbourhoods across London. This will help us to build on the progress we’re making to reduce violent crime in London,” Mayor Sadiq Khan said.