Finance experts at Oxfordshire County Council say it could be next week before they can reveal how much council tax will increase in April.

On December 5, the Government unveiled its Local Government Settlement, which revealed how much grant funding councils across the country will get for the financial year 2003/4.

The settlement determines spending plans for the coming year, but county council leader Keith Mitchell said the Government had failed to provide enough information.

The council has, according to the Government, received a grant increase of 6.1 per cent, slightly above the national average for shire counties of 5.1 per cent.

But Mr Mitchell said it was impossible to assess if the increase really amounted to 6.1 per cent, because there was a lack of information about the future of £78m in specific grants which the council received this year for education, health and social services.

He added: "We seem to have done better than some areas like Kent and Surrey, but there is a £78m black hole in the figures and we are pressing the Government to give us all the information.

"In previous years, it has been possible to come to an early conclusion but this year the funding formula changed and the facts and figures we need are not coming through as one.

"It appears that there has been a general shift from south to north in funding from the Government, as predicted.

"But what that means for the Oxfordshire taxpayer will only become clear in the next few days, once we get more of the facts and figures we need.

"The devil is in the detail of this very complex settlement and we will be very careful in examining the figures."

Yesterday, a spokesman for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister said an announcement about specific grants would follow at a later date. She said the information about specific grants would be given to the council by individual Government departments in the near future.