
News
Share
Published 10:40 31 Mar 2026 BST
Updated 10:40 31 Mar 2026 BST

It's Christmas Eve for the Finance bros everywhere as we approach the end of the financial year as council tax is set to go up.
As with the new dawn of any financial year, there'll be plenty of changes on the way to an array of things from new bins to minimum wage increases to rises in council tax.
Since April 2023, local authorities in England have been allowed to increase council tax by up to 4.99% each year.
Previously they were only allowed to increase charged by 2.99% at most.
Of course, if you give councils the *optional* chance to raise council tax by 4.99%, they're all going to increase it to the max, which is what almost every council has done.
On top of this, seven councils in England have been permitted to put council tax up beyond this cap due to financial struggles.
These are:
Despite the larger hike, bills in these three areas will remain below the national average, the government says.
The full list of all 153 top-tier local authorities in England and how much tax will be increasing is listed below:
Bath & North East Somerset — 4.99%
Bedford — 4.99%
Bexley — 4.99%
Birmingham — 4.99%
Blackburn with Darwen — 4.99%
Blackpool — 4.99%
Bolton — 4.99%
Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole — 6.74%
Bracknell Forest — 4.99%
Bradford — 4.99%
Brent — 4.99%
Brighton & Hove — 4.99%
Bristol — 4.99%
Bromley — 4.99%
Buckinghamshire — 4.99%
Bury — 4.99%
Calderdale — 4.99%
Cambridgeshire — 4.99%
Camden — 4.99%
Central Bedfordshire — 4.99%
Cheshire East — 4.99%
Cheshire West & Chester — 4.99%
City of London — 4.99%
Cornwall — 4.99%
County Durham — 1.99%
Coventry — 3.95%
Croydon — 4.99%
Cumbria (now split; legacy ref replaced by Cumberland/Westmorland & Furness)
Darlington — 4.99%
Derby — 4.99%
Derbyshire — 4.90%
Devon — 4.99%
Doncaster — 2.00%
Dorset — 4.99%
Dudley — 4.99%
Ealing — 4.99%
East Riding of Yorkshire — 4.99%
East Sussex — 4.99%
Enfield — 4.99%
Essex — 3.95%
Gateshead — 4.99%
Gloucestershire — 4.99%
Greenwich — 4.99%
Hackney — 4.99%
Halton — 4.99%
Hammersmith & Fulham — 4.99%
Hampshire — 4.99%
Haringey — 4.99%
Harrow — 4.99%
Hartlepool — 1.98%
Havering — 4.99%
Herefordshire — 4.99%
Hertfordshire — 4.99%
Hillingdon — 4.99%
Hounslow — 4.99%
Isle of Wight — 4.99%
Isles of Scilly — 4.99%
Kensington & Chelsea — 4.99%
Kent — 3.99%
Kingston upon Hull — 4.99%
Kingston upon Thames — 4.99%
Kirklees — 4.99%
Knowsley — 4.99%
Lambeth — 4.99%
Lancashire — 3.80%
Leeds — 4.99%
Leicester — 4.99%
Leicestershire — 2.99%
Lewisham — 4.99%
Lincolnshire — 2.90%
Liverpool — 4.99%
Luton — 4.99%
Manchester — 4.99%
Medway — 4.99%
Merton — 2.00%
Middlesbrough — 4.99%
Newcastle upon Tyne — 4.99%
Newham — 4.99%
Norfolk — 4.99%
North East Lincolnshire — 4.99%
North Lincolnshire — 4.99%
North Northamptonshire — 4.99%
North Somerset — 8.99%
North Tyneside — 4.99%
North Yorkshire — 4.99%
Northumberland — 4.99%
Nottingham — 4.99%
Nottinghamshire — 3.99%
Oldham — 4.99%
Oxfordshire — 4.99%
Peterborough — 4.99%
Plymouth — 4.99%
Portsmouth — 4.99%
Reading — 4.99%
Redbridge — 4.99%
Redcar & Cleveland — 4.99%
Richmond upon Thames — 4.99%
Rochdale — 4.99%
Rotherham — 3.95%
Rutland — 4.99%
Salford — 4.99%
Sandwell — 4.99%
Sefton — 4.99%
Sheffield — 4.99%
Shropshire — 8.99%
Slough — 4.99%
Solihull — 4.99%
Somerset — 4.99%
South Gloucestershire — 4.99%
South Tyneside — 4.95%
Southampton — 4.99%
Southend-on-Sea — 4.99%
Southwark — 4.99%
St Helens — 4.99%
Staffordshire — 3.99%
Stockport — 4.99%
Stockton-on-Tees — 4.99%
Stoke-on-Trent — 4.99%
Suffolk — 4.99%
Sunderland — 4.50%
Surrey — 4.99%
Sutton — 4.99%
Swindon — 4.99%
Tameside — 4.99%
Telford & Wrekin — 4.99%
Thurrock — 4.99%
Torbay — 4.99%
Tower Hamlets — 4.99%
Trafford — 7.49%
Wakefield — 4.99%
Walsall — 4.99%
Waltham Forest — 4.99%
Wandsworth — 2.00%
Warrington — 7.49%
Warwickshire — 4.40%
West Berkshire — 4.99%
West Northamptonshire — 4.99%
West Sussex — 4.99%
Westminster — 2.00%
Wigan — 4.99%
Wiltshire — 4.99%
Windsor & Maidenhead — 7.49%
Wirral — 4.99%
Wokingham — 4.99%
Wolverhampton — 4.99%
Worcestershire — 8.99%
York — 4.99%
Explore more on these topics:
Lucy Letby ‘boyfriend’ doctor identified as court order lifted
Trial sheds light on Letby ‘boyfriend’ The doctor described during Lucy Letby’s murder trial as her “boyfriend” can now be publicly identified after a court anonymity order protecting him was lifted. The doctor in question worked alongside Letby at the Countess of Chester Hospital during the period in which she murdered seven babies. Mark Deakin, […]
News
9h
Early release plan confirmed: about 700 prisoners to be freed on 1 October
The first wave of early prisoner releases is now just weeks away Around 700 eligible prisoners in England and Wales are expected to be released on the morning of 1 October, with the total reaching roughly 2,550 by the end of the year under the government’s revised early release scheme, according to BBC reporting. The […]
News
10h
News
Pleasurewood Hills: 27 rescued from rollercoaster stuck 15m in the air
News