A vast majority of councils have signalled they will apply a maximum council tax increase of at least 4.99% this year, it has emerged. Figures for the 139 top-tier authorities in England that have proposed or confirmed increases so far show 85% are planning a rise just short of 5% – the threshold that would trigger a local referendum in normal circumstances.
When the six councils in acute financial stress that were granted permission to increase council tax beyond this level without a local vote are included, the proportion increases to nearly 90%. Of the councils which have disclosed plans, 122 are proposals awaiting approval from full council and 17 have been confirmed, leaving 14 yet to declare their intentions, analysis by the PA news agency shows.
Based on trends in recent years, it is unlikely that a council tax rise proposed by senior councillors will be rejected by full council at this late stage of the budget process. Just 15 councils are planning increases below 4.99%, with levels ranging from 4.98% in Barnet, north London, and Warrington, Cheshire, to 2.00% in Wandsworth, south London.
Only six other councils are planning to increase council tax by 4% or less. These are Kensington & Chelsea in London (4.00%), Doncaster in South Yorkshire (3.99%), North East Lincolnshire (3.98%), Essex (3.75%), Rotherham in South Yorkshire (3.00%), and Lincolnshire (2.99%).
All upper-tier councils in the East Midlands, eastern England, the North East and the South West have proposed or confirmed their council tax increases. In the East Midlands eight of the region’s ten councils have opted for the maximum rise, while nine out of 10 have hit this threshold in eastern England.
Meanwhile, only two councils in the North East, South Tyneside and Stockton-on-Tees, plan increases below 4.99%, both opting for 4.95%. All 15 councils in the South West have announced their plans.
Torbay (4.75%) and Wiltshire (4.50%) are the only authorities opting for increases below 4.99%. Somerset has been granted permission to increase council tax by 7.50%.
Of the 33 London councils, including the City of London, six are yet to disclose their council tax plans. In the capital, 23 of the 27 councils that have declared their intention opted for a 4.99% rise, with Kensington & Chelsea (4.00%) and Barnet (4.98%) joining Wandsworth as the exceptions.
The Government has granted Newham permission to increase council tax by 8.99%. Among councils in the North West, 19 of the 21 that have confirmed plans decided on a 4.99% rise.
Warrington chose a 4.98% increase and Trafford in Greater Manchester has been granted permission for a rise of 7.49%. In the South East, 16 of the 20 councils are planning a 4.99% increase and one, Windsor & Maidenhead, in Berkshire, has been cleared to increase beyond the cap to 8.99%.
Apart from Birmingham, which has been given permission to raise council tax by 7.49%, all 13 upper-tier councils in the West Midlands which have disclosed their plans opted for a 4.99% increase. Three of the 15 councils in the Yorkshire & Humber region have set council tax increases at less than 4%: Rotherham has set a 3.00% rise, North East Lincolnshire 3.98% and Doncaster 3.99%.
The Government’s figure of a 6.8% overall increase in councils’ spending power in 2026-26 assumed all councils would increase council tax to 4.99%. Wandsworth’s increase of 2.00% represents the third year in a row that council tax has been frozen in the borough, which is said to have the lowest council tax in the country.
Council leader Simon Hogg said: “Sound financial management is at the heart of everything we do. Wandsworth has one of the lowest levels of debt and some of the highest financial reserves in London, allowing us to freeze the main element of council tax and invest in what matters most to you – cleaner streets, safer neighbourhoods and a stronger community.”
Confirming what is currently the second lowest proposed increase in council tax in England of 2.99%, Lincolnshire leader Martin Hill questioned why some councils are permitted to raise council tax beyond the referendum threshold. H e said: “We do feel there is an element of penalising success and rewarding failure.
“We have always done the right thing at the county council. We have lived within our budget, kept our council tax low and it is a bit frustrating that other councils can’t seem to manage to do that at the same time we live within our means.”
He said the council had found nearly £400 million in savings since 2010 and would continue to look for further efficiencies. New analysis has found that the poorest households are paying an increasing proportion of their income on council tax.
The Resolution Foundation said the poorest fifth of households across the UK paid 4.8% of their income on council tax in 2020-21, up from 2.9% in 2002-3. The think tank identified that this share of income was three times more than the 1.5% spent by the richest fifth.
The council tax system has been described as flawed by experts, particularly as council tax rates in England and Scotland are based on the value of properties in 1991. Lalitha Try, an economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: “This terribly designed tax increasingly resembles the very thing it was meant to replace – the dreaded poll tax.”
Full list of proposed and confirmed top-tier council tax rises in England
Here is a list of the latest proposed and confirmed council tax rises for 2025/26 by top-tier local authorities in England. The list is a snapshot of the figures available as of February 18.
The data covers only the 153 top-tier local authorities in England: County councils, London boroughs, Metropolitan boroughs and unitary authorities. It does not include lower-tier district councils.
The list is divided into four sections, corresponding to the four types of top-tier authority, with each section arranged alphabetically. For each authority, the percentage increase in council tax in 2025/26 is given, along with whether this has been confirmed or proposed.
Some 14 top-tier authorities have yet to make public a proposed or confirmed figure.
County councils
Cambridgeshire (Eastern England): 4.99% confirmed
Derbyshire (East Midlands): 4.99% confirmed
Devon (SW England): 4.99% proposed
East Sussex (SE England): 4.99% confirmed
Essex (Eastern England): 3.75% confirmed
Gloucestershire (SW England): 4.99% proposed
Hampshire (SE England): 4.995% confirmed
Hertfordshire (SE England): 4.99% proposed
Kent (SE England): 4.99% confirmed
Lancashire (NW England): 4.99% proposed
Leicestershire (East Midlands): 4.99% proposed
Lincolnshire (East Midlands): 2.99% proposed
Norfolk (Eastern England): 4.99% proposed
Nottinghamshire (East Midlands): 4.84% proposed
Oxfordshire (SE England): 4.99% confirmed
Staffordshire (West Midlands): 4.99% confirmed
Suffolk (Eastern England): 4.99% confirmed
Surrey (SE England): 4.99% confirmed
Warwickshire (West Midlands): 4.99% confirmed
West Sussex (SE England): 4.99% confirmed
Worcestershire (West Midlands): 4.99% proposed
London
Barking & Dagenham: 4.99% proposed
Barnet: 4.98% proposed
Bexley: tbc
Brent: 4.99% proposed
Bromley: tbc
Camden: tbc
City of London: tbc
Croydon: 4.99% proposed
Ealing: 4.99% proposed
Enfield: 4.99% proposed
Greenwich: 4.99% proposed
Hackney: tbc
Hammersmith & Fulham: 4.99% proposed
Haringey: 4.99% proposed
Harrow: 4.99% proposed
Havering: 4.99% proposed
Hillingdon: 4.99% proposed
Hounslow: 4.99% proposed
Islington: 4.99% proposed
Kensington & Chelsea: 4.00% proposed
Kingston-upon-Thames: 4.99% proposed
Lambeth: 4.99% proposed
Lewisham: 4.99% proposed
Merton: 4.99% proposed
Newham: 8.99% proposed
Redbridge: tbc
Richmond-upon-Thames: 4.99% proposed
Southwark: 4.99% proposed
Sutton: 4.99% proposed
Tower Hamlets: 4.99% proposed
Waltham Forest: 4.99% proposed
Wandsworth: 2.00% proposed
Westminster: 4.99% proposed
Metropolitan boroughs
Barnsley (Yorkshire/Humber): 4.90% proposed
Birmingham (West Midlands): 7.49% proposed
Bolton (NW England): 4.99% proposed
Bradford (Yorkshire/Humber): 9.99% proposed
Bury (NW England): 4.99% proposed
Calderdale (Yorkshire/Humber): 4.99% proposed
Coventry (West Midlands): 4.99% proposed
Doncaster (Yorkshire/Humber): 3.99% proposed
Dudley (West Midlands): 4.99% proposed
Gateshead (NE England): 4.99% proposed
Kirklees (Yorkshire/Humber): 4.99% proposed
Knowsley (NW England): 4.99% proposed
Leeds (Yorkshire/Humber): 4.99% proposed
Liverpool (NW England): tbc
Manchester (NW England): 4.99% proposed
Newcastle-upon-Tyne (NE England): 4.99% proposed
North Tyneside (NE England): 4.99% proposed
Oldham (NW England): 4.99% proposed
Rochdale (NW England): 4.99% proposed
Rotherham (Yorkshire/Humber): 3.00% proposed
Salford (NW England): 4.99% proposed
Sandwell (West Midlands): 4.99% proposed
Sefton (NW England): 4.99% proposed
Sheffield (Yorkshire/Humber): 4.99% proposed
Solihull (West Midlands): 4.99% proposed
South Tyneside (NE England): 4.95% proposed
St Helens (NW England): tbc
Stockport (NW England): 4.99% proposed
Sunderland (NE England): 4.99% proposed
Tameside (NW England): 4.99% proposed
Trafford (NW England): 7.49% proposed
Wakefield (Yorkshire/Humber): 4.99% proposed
Walsall (West Midlands): 4.99% proposed
Wigan (NW England): tbc
Wirral (NW England): 4.99% proposed
Wolverhampton (West Midlands): tbc
Unitary authorities
Bath & North East Somerset (SW England): 4.99% proposed
Bedford (Eastern England): 4.99% confirmed
Blackburn with Darwen (NW England): 4.99% proposed
Blackpool (NW England): 4.99% proposed
Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole (SW England): 4.99% proposed
Bracknell Forest (SE England): tbc
Brighton & Hove (SE England): 4.99% proposed
Bristol (SW England): 4.99% proposed
Buckinghamshire (SE England): 4.99% proposed
Central Bedfordshire (Eastern England): 4.99% proposed
Cheshire East (NW England): 4.99% proposed
Cheshire West and Chester (NW England): 4.99% proposed
Cornwall (SW England): 4.99% proposed
Cumberland (NW England): 4.99% proposed
Darlington (NE England): 4.99% proposed
Derby (East Midlands): 4.99% proposed
Dorset (SW England): 4.99% confirmed
Durham (NE England): 4.99% proposed
East Riding of Yorkshire (Yorkshire/Humber): 4.99% confirmed
Halton (NW England): 4.99% proposed
Hartlepool (NE England): 4.99% proposed
Herefordshire (West Midlands): 4.99% confirmed
Hull (Yorkshire/Humber): 4.99% proposed
Isle of Wight (SE England): 4.99% proposed
Isles of Scilly (SW England): 4.99% proposed
Leicester (East Midlands): 4.99% proposed
Luton (Eastern England): 4.99% proposed
Medway (SE England): 4.99% proposed
Middlesbrough (NE England): 4.99% proposed
Milton Keynes (SE England): 4.99% proposed
North East Lincolnshire (Yorkshire/Humber): 3.98% proposed
North Lincolnshire (Yorkshire/Humber): tbc
North Northamptonshire (East Midlands): 4.99% proposed
North Somerset (SW England): 4.99% proposed
North Yorkshire (Yorkshire/Humber): 4.99% confirmed
Northumberland (NE England): 4.99% proposed
Nottingham (East Midlands): 4.99% proposed
Peterborough (Eastern England): 4.99% proposed
Plymouth (SW England): 4.99% proposed
Portsmouth (SE England): 4.99% proposed
Reading (SE England): 4.99% proposed
Redcar & Cleveland (NE England): 4.99% proposed
Rutland (East Midlands): 4.99% proposed
Shropshire (West Midlands): 4.99% proposed
Slough (SE England): tbc
Somerset (SW England): 7.50% proposed
South Gloucestershire (SW England): 4.99% proposed
Southampton (SE England): tbc
Southend-on-Sea (Eastern England): 4.99% proposed
Stockton-on-Tees (NE England): 4.95% proposed
Stoke-on-Trent (West Midlands): 4.99% proposed
Swindon (SW England): 4.99% proposed
Telford & Wrekin (West Midlands): 4.99% proposed
Thurrock (Eastern England): 4.99% proposed
Torbay (SW England): 4.75% proposed
Warrington (NW England): 4.98% proposed
West Berkshire (SE England): 4.99% proposed
West Northamptonshire (East Midlands): 4.99% proposed
Westmorland & Furness (NW England): 4.99% proposed
Wiltshire (SW England): 4.50% proposed
Windsor & Maidenhead (SE England): 8.99% proposed
Wokingham (SE England): 4.99% proposed
York (Yorkshire/Humber): 4.99% proposed