Council tax is set to rise by three per cent in Merton.

The council said that the £2.4million raised will be used to contribute to the additional £9.6million a year allocated to adult social care, as agreed last year.

The rise was announced at a full meeting of the council last week.

Cabinet member for finance, councillor Mark Allison said: "This has been a tough decade for families’ finances, with less money to go around and so many more things we want to spend it on.

“It’s been exactly the same for the council. We want Merton to be a great place for families to live and grow up but that means having to be careful with the pennies.

“By taking a business-like approach, making tough decisions and working with partners to be more efficient, we’re able to have a new library and a new leisure centre and more support for our older people. And with austerity not likely to end for some time we’ll continue to do our best to fight for what our residents want.”

Merton Council said that for the sixth year running it has agreed to absorb the government’s 2012 reduction in council tax support, ensuring residents on low incomes continue to receive the same amount of council tax support as in previous years.