Households in England face £300 bill hike in fresh blow

Households in England are facing a fresh blow with bills set to rise by £300.

Bills for utilities, council tax and train travel are set to be raised above the rate of inflation with experts warning this will put a strain on the government to do more about high living costs.

Inflation, currently at 1.7%, is expected to go up with experts predicting it will go above the Bank of England’s 2% target. Some suggest it could go up to 3% next year once Donald Trump is inaugurated as president of the USA.

Household bills could hike by £278. The council tax cap of 5% will remain in place in 2025, meaning local authorities could raise bills by an average of £109 for a band D property.

Yearly, energy bills could go up £12, water bills by £19, broadband by £23 and annual rail season tickets by £115 or more, according to the i newspaper. Mortgage holders coming off low interest fixed deals next year will also face higher bills.

Politicians are calling on the government to do more to help people through the cost of living.

Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride told i: “The evidence is clear – Labour’s Budget of broken promises will make working people poorer.

“The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has already estimated that the average family will be £770 worse off in real terms by the end of this Parliament, and this new analysis just further underlines the damage this Budget will do to family finances.

“The British public will not forget Labour’s tax hikes and their impact on living standards.”

Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper added: “Years of mismanagement and unfair tax hikes by the previous Conservative Government hit people’s living standards, and sadly the cost-of-living crisis has not gone away.

“It’s worrying that this government seems to be making many of the same mistakes, with a tax on jobs, cuts to winter fuel payments and increases to people’s bus fares.”

A Treasury spokesperson said: “We have taken the tough decisions to deliver economic stability after inheriting a £22bn black hole, and have boosted public investment by over £100bn over the next five years to mend our crumbling public services and drive prosperity in every part of the country.

“To support households with the cost of living in the short term, we have increased the national living wage, protected payslips from higher taxes, and for the poorest families, have boosted the household support fund and discretionary housing payments by £1bn to help with essentials such as energy, food bills and rent.”