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