CALLS are being made for a council tax u-turn in Worcestershire - with the Labour Party calling for a dramatic freeze in rates.

A crunch vote is taking place at Worcestershire County Council tomorrow to increase the household bill by nearly four per cent, adding more than £42 to the typical band D property.

Now County Hall's opposition Labour group is calling for the move to be ditched, saying people face "paying more money for less services".

Labour group Councillor Peter McDonald wants bosses to instead raid the reserve kitty to plug the gap, claiming it has "a staggering £112 million" stashed away.

The plea comes despite finance boss Sean Pearce regularly briefing councillors in recent weeks saying the vast majority of that money is already earmarked for spending, with the true level of 'uncommitted cash' estimated at £13 million.

A 3.9 per cent council tax rise, which would kick in from April if voted through tomorrow, will raise more than £8 million to be pumped into social care for adults and children for 2016/17 alone.

The Conservative leadership has responded to Labour's request by challenging it to make clear "what it will cut" under a freeze.

Councillor McDonald said: "The council is awash with money and could quite easily set a zero council tax increase and still increase services.

"There can be no excuses for having so much money in reserves and not using them for the purpose they were originally designed for - helping out in times of austerity.

"Quite clearly austerity measures have failed to improve residents' standard of living over the years, and have just led to one cutback after another.

"The Tories' budget, if not amended, will mean residents have had an increase of eight per cent in three years on their council tax - at the same time services have been slashed by over £75 million pounds.

"The time has come to stop piling on the misery and use reserves to give people a break from the crippling increases."

He has also called for an extra £1 million to be pumped into youth services, saying the reductions in spending for community centres have gone too far.

Councillor Simon Geraghty is facing his first budget as county council leader since taking over last month.

He said: "My message to them is very simple, what services are they going to cut, because this doesn't add up.

"What £8 million of cuts would they make in order to freeze council tax?

"This is a balanced budget which protects our most vulnerable people in society, no authority takes children into care lightly.

"I don't like to put up council tax, I'm low-tax generally but unfortunately it's not possible on this occasion."

The Treasury generally advises top tier councils that they should have at least £10 million stashed away for absolute emergencies.

Chancellor George Osborne has removed a previous council tax 'cap' of two per cent for top tier councils which look after the elderly.

In tomorrow's full council meeting all 57 councillors will vote on a £322 million budget for 2016/17.