Households in some areas of England face council tax rises of up to 9% from April, with those living in areas like Worcestershire, Shropshire and North Somerset the worst affected.

The unpopular tax pays for all sorts of local services from social care to bin collections, road resurfacing and leisure centres.

Normally, annual increases are capped at no more than 4.99%, and local authorities have to seek special permission in order to raise it any further.

But seven councils have special permission to increase their council tax beyond the core 5%, to ease a "challenging financial position".

It is part of a three-year settlement for local authorities which the Government has finalised, making around £78 billion available to town halls throughout England. And several councils have already been given the go ahead to raise the tax by much more than the normal legal limit.

Worcestershire County Council will increase council tax by 9% due to 'severe financial pressure'.

Shropshire Council and North Somerset Council will also raise it by 9% thanks to high social care costs.

In Worcestershire, the rise will add £145.41 per year on to the cost of the bill for the average Band D property.

In Shropshire, residents will be forced to swallow a £162.60 rise on average Band D properties, and in North Somerset, it will be a £161.44 increase on Band D.

Trafford Council, in Manchester, will increase its tax by 7.5%, while Warrington Borough Council will do the same, as will Windsor and Maidenhead in London.

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole on the south coast will raise the tax by 6.75%.

Steven Broadbent, the County Councils Network (CCN) finance spokesman, warned the next three years "will be very challenging" for the organisation's members.

Mr Broadbent, who is the Conservative leader of Buckinghamshire Council, said he was "disappointed" that "ministers have chosen to yet again unfairly target even more resources on a select cohort of urban and metropolitan councils".

He said: "This is because the recovery grant overwhelmingly benefits urban metropolitan borough councils, yet analysis by CCN shows that they collectively face a funding gap of £180 million next year whereas county and rural unitary councils face a colossal £2.7 billion funding black hole.

"This shows that today's decision to increase the recovery grant by a further £440 million, rather than providing extra funding to all county and unitary councils, is patently unfair and compounds the decision to downgrade remoteness within the formula."