Homeowners look set for a 3.99 per cent council tax rise from April after leading county politicians recommended the increase in the wake of huge funding cuts from central government.

Bucks County Council recommended the increase to occur each year for the next three years in a bid to keep key services at the same standards and protect the most vulnerable.

However, cabinet members are campaigning to make the government aware of the county’s situation after the cabinet heard yesterday how the funding announcement made last month had come as a shock, with Buckinghamshire the second worst-affected area in the country in terms of losing its grant.

Council leader Martin Tett said: “It is with great regret that we have had to make these proposals but we really have no choice due to the imminent complete loss of central government grant to the county council as well as the increase in demand for high-cost services such as those to the county’s elderly and the safeguarding of vulnerable children.”

He added that the council had managed to keep council tax at the same level for four years until 2014/15 when it was raised by 1.5 per cent and then a further 1.99 per cent the following year.

But government funding – which was £60.8m a year in 2013/14 - will be reduced to zero by 2018/19.

Martin Tett added: “This is a very well-managed and efficient council and we have made enormous cost savings over the last few years.

“We budgeted for a steep cut in funding but unfortunately, the grant announced at the end of 2015 was far, far more challenging than anything we had anticipated.

“The massive scale of the reductions was totally unforeseen and the changes to the way the cuts were allocated were not consulted upon.

“This gave us very little time to come up with credible and deliverable proposals needed to balance the budget.

“Not only do we lose all government grants earlier than any other county in the country but our Business Rates and New Homes Bonus will also be heavily cut.”

He added that talks will be held with Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Greg Clark today (January 12).

The financial difficulties have been compounded by the government’s decision, in line with the move towards all schools being either academies or free schools, to reduce the Education Services Grant of £4.5m by 2019/20.

The Council estimates it will only be able to reduce £1.5m of these costs by then, meaning a net loss of £3m.

According to Martin Tett, the financial challenges will result in significant reductions across most services, the closure of a number of children's centres, a lack of funding to support the integration of health and social care services to residents and the inability to resource support to the housing growth plans of the district councils and, in particular, provide the key infrastructure required such as roads and schools.

However, the cabinet, in keeping with the wishes of residents in a recent survey of budget priorities, also aims to commit £15m to its Highways Maintenance budget in 2016/17.

The final decision on the proposals and overall budget, which will now go out to consultation and scrutiny, will be discussed by full council at its meeting on February 18.