Council tax charges in Dorset have yet to be decided for the coming year, with an early indication of the likely level set to be announced towards the end of January.

The Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner has already indicated that the force is likely to need a £15 a year increase for the average Band D home, compared to the £10 increase it had in the current financial year.

Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue are likely to be asking for a similar percentage increase after a recent meeting heard of mounting financial challenges because of rising costs and pay awards coming in higher than expected.

Dorset Council is facing a similar situation with costs and pay awards, with the council leader, Cllr Spencer Flower, lobbying government with the help of local MPs to improve the financial settlement to the county.

He has been critical during the year of the amount offered to Dorset by Westminster, and like other rural authority leaders, has complained about how finances tend to be skewed towards favouring urban areas, taking little account of the county's 'rurality', or the higher than UK average percentage of elderly people needing care and support.

The government recently released its provisional local government finance settlement for 2023/24.

Dorset Council, in a statement, said that the details of that settlement were now being considered.

Said a council spokesman: "We are currently looking into the detail of our funding and will be publishing our draft 2023/24 budget proposals soon. The relevant scrutiny committees will be considering them in early January, ahead of the Cabinet meeting on January 23. All of this will help to determine our finances for the coming year."

According to the Local Government Chronicle, the settlement is described as "lacking certainty" for councils in challenging times.

Chair of the Commons Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee, Clive Betts, told the Chronicle that the settlement would result in councils having to increase council tax.

"Council tax, as the secretary of state has admitted, is a regressive tax. So, it hits people hardest who are on the lowest incomes, with the lowest ability to pay and it still leaves local government finding the extra," he said.

He called for certainty for councils over long-term funding, rather than rely on year by year changes.