How to Budget for Council Tax Rises Landing This April

Council tax rises land every April, but the size of the increase - and which households are hit hardest - varies more than most people realise. Here’s the current picture and how to actually budget around it.

The 2026/27 figures

The average Band D council tax bill in England for 2026/27 is £2,392, an increase of £111, or 4.9%, on the previous year - the smallest annual rise in three years, but still comfortably outpacing average wage growth in percentage terms. Of the 318 English councils tracked, 221 applied the maximum permitted increase, and a further 37 came close to it.

Why some councils raised bills by far more

The standard ‘referendum threshold’ - the increase a council can apply without needing local voter approval - is 4.99% for councils with social care responsibilities (made up of a 2.99% core increase plus a 2% ring-fenced adult social care precept), and 3% or £5 (whichever is higher) for district councils. However, a small number of councils facing severe financial distress were granted special permission to exceed this in 2026/27 - including Worcestershire and Shropshire at 8.99%, and Trafford and Warrington at 7.49% - nearly double the national average increase, reflecting acute local budget pressures rather than a general national policy change.

Why council tax varies so much by area regardless of rises

Even before this year’s increase, council tax varied enormously by region - from around £1,020 (Band D) in Wandsworth to over £2,700 in parts of Dorset, a gap of more than £1,700 for an identical property band. This means the percentage rise matters less to your actual bill than where you live in the first place - worth checking your specific council’s rate rather than assuming the national average applies to you.

How to budget for it, practically

• Check your actual bill, not just the national average, since your specific council and any parish precept determine the real figure - the £2,392 average masks very large regional variation.
• Spread the annual increase across 10 or 12 monthly payments if your council allows it (most do, and some allow a 12-month spread by request rather than the default 10 months), smoothing the impact rather than absorbing it in a lump sum.
• Check for discounts you might be missing - the 25% single-person discount, student exemptions, and Council Tax Reduction for low-income households are all commonly under-claimed.
• Verify your council tax band is correct, particularly for older properties - bands were set in 1991 and errors do exist, though a review can in rare cases result in a band increasing rather than decreasing, so check carefully before requesting one.

Why this is a recurring, not one-off, budgeting item

Council tax has risen for the past several years at rates outpacing inflation for many households, driven by structural pressures on local authority finances - rising social care demand, reduced central government funding in real terms, and an ageing population. There’s little reason to expect this trend to reverse, making it worth building into your annual budget review every April as a near-certain increase, rather than treating each year’s rise as a one-off surprise - much like other predictable-but-easy-to-underestimate annual costs, from a full calendar of wedding invitations to Christmas.

The bottom line

The 4.9% national average increase for 2026/27 is the smallest rise in three years, but a handful of councils in financial difficulty raised bills by considerably more - check your own council’s actual rate and consider spreading payments over 12 months rather than 10 if it eases the monthly impact.