Council tax in England: what your council charges

The bill

An average Band D bill of 2,392 pounds, up 4.9 per cent

The average Band D council tax in England is 2,392 pounds for 2026 to 2027, up 4.9 per cent on the year. Rises are close to the maximum allowed almost everywhere: 210 of the 294 billing authority areas put the whole area bill up by 4.5 per cent or more. What a household actually pays still varies enormously by postcode, from about 1,028 pounds in Wandsworth to 2,765 pounds in Dorset for the same Band D home.

Since 1993

From 568 pounds to 2,392 pounds

When council tax began in 1993 the average Band D bill in England was about 568 pounds. It is now about 4.2 times that in cash terms. The steepest climbs came in the early 2000s, peaking at a rise of 12.9 per cent in 2003 to 2004 alone, and bills have risen by 3 to 5 per cent in almost every year since 2016, when the social care precept was added on top of the core rise. These are cash figures, not adjusted for inflation.

Average Band D council tax in England including parish precepts, cash terms, 1993-94 to 2026-27. Source: MHCLG live table.

Where it is highest and lowest

The same Band D home, a very different bill

The whole area Band D bill is highest in Dorset at 2,765 pounds and lowest in Wandsworth at 1,028 pounds, a gap of more than 1,700 pounds a year. The lowest bills are concentrated in a handful of London boroughs that keep council tax structurally low; the highest are mostly rural counties where the county, police and fire precepts stack up.

This year's rises

Who put bills up most

Most councils raised council tax by close to the maximum normally allowed without a local referendum. The biggest rises in the whole area bill this year were in Shropshire at 9.0 per cent and North Somerset at 8.6 per cent. Councils in serious financial difficulty can be given permission for larger rises, which is why some areas rose faster than the normal limit.

Rising bills, struggling councils

The money trouble behind the bills

Higher bills have not kept councils out of trouble. 30 councils needed exceptional financial support from the government in 2025 to 2026 just to balance their books, and 7 different councils have issued a section 114 notice, the closest thing local government has to declaring bankruptcy, since 2018. The full picture of reserves, bailouts and spending is in the council finances and council reserves deep-dives.

Section 114 notices since 2018: Birmingham, Croydon, Northamptonshire, Nottingham, Slough, Thurrock, Woking. See the full picture in council finances and council reserves.

Questions this raises

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