COUNCIL tax in Dorset provides some of the "poorest value for money" in the country, according to newly released figures.

The report comes as Dorset Council’s leader, Spencer Flower, reiterated his call for “fairer funding” from central government.

money.co.uk looked at a number of different council services across England to compile a database of which district’s council tax goes furthest.

Residents of Dorset were found to receive some of the worst value for money in the country: placing 232nd out of the 304 local authorities that were ranked and 17th out of 25 within the South West. In April it was revealed residents in the Dorset Council area were paying the fifth-highest tax rate in the country.

Read more: Dorset council tax among the highest in England for 2022/23

Councillor Spencer Flower has been leader of the Council since its formation in 2019 and said a more elderly population and disproportionate funding allocation meant the authority absorbed more costs than most other areas. He said:

“We are constantly working to improve efficiency at Dorset Council. Since the council was created in 2019 we have made efficiency savings, by transforming services and the removal of duplication following the convergence of six councils into one, of over £25 million to date. This money has been reinvested into frontline services. This has meant that, unlike many other councils nationally, we have largely been able to avoid cuts to services that our residents rely on.

“It’s also worth noting that Dorset Council has higher costs than many other councils. We have the largest proportion of residents of retirement age of any county or unitary council, which means there is high demand for adult social care services. As a large rural council we also have a lot of roads to maintain: we have 2,300 miles of roads to maintain, whereas BCP Council has 658 miles. Currently we get no Revenue Support Grant nor does the annual settlement take any account of the cost of providing services in our rural area. We continue to lobby the government for fairer funding.”

money.co.uk said nearly half of all council tax challenges in 2020/21 resulted in a reduced tariff: to find out more visit www.money.co.uk/guides/are-you-paying-too-much-council-tax