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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%
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