Hampshire County Council won’t be asking residents to go to the polls to vote on a mammoth 15 per cent council tax hike.

The council’s deputy chief executive recommended the hike – much higher than the limit of 5 per cent – so either government approval or a referendum would be needed to press ahead with plans.

And with the Government rejecting Hampshire County Council’s request for the 15 per cent hike, it meant the referendum was the only option.

Now, the cabinet of senior councillors rejected the proposal for a 15 per cent council tax increase and is instead recommending a 4.99 per cent increase. This will now go to full council for consideration.

The EFS request to government, rejected on Monday, would have allowed a 15 per cent increase in 2025/26 and a further 10 per cent in 2026/27, therefore, no draws from balances would have been required over the next two years.

It would have generated £83.5m of additional recurring income in 2025/26 and reduced the recurring budget to £53.6m in 2026/27.

Since only six authorities’ applications were approved, the council’s plan would either trigger a referendum to increase council tax by 15 per cent or keep it at the usual 5 per cent limit.

Deputy chief executive Rob Carr recommended that if the EFS request was not approved, the council should trigger a referendum since increasing the council tax to 4.99 per cent would increase the “likelihood” that the council would issue a Section 114 notice – effectively declaring bankruptcy – in advance of the 2026/27 financial year since there wouldn’t be enough reserve to bridge the gap.

Despite the recommendation, the council leader, Nick Adams-King, proposed increasing the council tax to 4.99 per cent.

Cllr Adams-King said at cabinet (February 5) that in a recent public consultation, the council has asked residents about council tax and what reasonable amount they would be prepared to pay.

“It’s fair to say that anything above the referendum limit was quite clearly rejected.

“Clearly, none of us want to ask people to pay more council tax”.

He added that triggering a referendum would add additional costs to the council, specifically over £2m, and if unsuccessful, it would give rise to potential re-billing costs of £400,000.

“Regardless of whether we would or would not be holding elections due to the Devolution programme in May, holding a referendum will cost us additional money.

“We know that people would not be supportive of a council tax increase. Indeed, we’re not supportive of a council tax increase unless we were absolutely forced to do so, which is where we are.

“So our recommendation that we’ll be passing on to the council is that we increase our council tax by the referendum limit, which is 4.995 per cent.”

If approved by the full council on February 13, the precept will generate £876m for the council in 2025/26.