Page 4 | Council tax bill - is this wild or are yours insanely high too?

Isinglass20 · 02/05/2026 20:50

Interesting to hear what Sir John Major said, reported on Newsnight, that successive governments are failing to plan for our ageing society and a desperate crisis is looming.

The reality is as a country we do not pay enough tax. If we want the levels of social care they have in the Baltic countries and Europe thenwe’re faced with higher taxes.

The only source of money is tax: VAT, corporation tax, inheritance tax and personal tax. That is our contract with the State.

Otherwise we have the social unfairness of the US, and brutal levels of poverty that exist there.

PeoplesNet · 02/05/2026 20:30

User74939590 · 01/05/2026 12:17

Mine is over £400 a month, yours sounds cheap by that metric!

That's insane but you must have a salary to match so not sure it impacts more?

cucumber4745 · 02/05/2026 19:42

I pay £150 for a tiny one bed flat, so double that for 3 bed house sounds normal to me. But yes, CT is daylight robbery and the area I live in is utter shithole. It literally stinks of shit, schools falling apart, rubbish everywhere, potholes and what not. Can’t wait to move..

Olael · 02/05/2026 19:41

Mine is £100 a month for a 2 bed flat in Hackney, with a 25% discount. I think it's band B. Not too different to previous years.

Jesslovesengineering · 02/05/2026 19:30

The worst councils are those where Reform got in, lying they would reduce bills but actually massively increasing them. Despite it all, they've just spent £12k planting red and white flowers in a George's cross on a roundabout in county Durham. Yep, £12k spaffed on a roundabout. Don't vote Reform.

VeterinaryCareAssistant · 02/05/2026 19:29

And there's me moaning that mine has gone up to £180 a month.

loislovesstewie · 02/05/2026 19:24

MorriseysMother · 02/05/2026 18:11

Our council tax is our biggest outgoing. When we bought our house in 2001 it was £870 a year. It is now £4850! We are a band G but shouldn’t be. I have appealed it but they told me if they dropped our band they would have to do the whole road and they are not going to do that as they would loose too much money. What annoys me is that a £1.6m house with an annexe and land 2 mins from our house is also a band G and our house isn’t even worth the point 6. It was valued before it was built. Really grinds my gears!

Well under the old rates system every house had its own rateable value so houses in the same street could be of different values. When the rates were set for the year a calculation would be applied to each one. I actually think it was a better system.

Lizziespring · 02/05/2026 19:04

I live in a tiny 2-bed basement flat and my council tax is 280 pm.

Sadmamaof2 · 02/05/2026 18:46

Notmycircusnotmyotter · 01/05/2026 12:22

all of us paying for those public sector salaries

Are public sector workers meant to work for free?

MoonCharged · 02/05/2026 18:39

Mine is around the £160 mark for a 7 bed with detached double garage and shed in the sprawling countryside. Its insane how different areas can affect the prices.

2ndcarowner · 02/05/2026 18:26

anniegun · 01/05/2026 12:52

Its mainly social care and SEND. If you want to lower council tax , decide which of these you want to spend less on

Both.

MaturingCheeseball · 02/05/2026 18:17

I wish I could reform local government. The waste is terrible. Councillors - who were never meant to be career people - earn a very decent sum - I think it’s £10k for doing hardly anything - plus more if they hold positions. And county or city councillors can be raking in £30k+ and extra if have a position. It’s a disgrace.

The sen spends are out of control. The taxi bills are horrendous. There must be another way. Likewise care homes - I would build council-run homes. Good but basic with no frills. No paying private providers.

And as for political posturing - grants to random groups etc - I would outlaw this. Core functions only.

Single50something · 02/05/2026 18:13

Mine is 160 with the single person discount:( bills do not work well for single income households.

MorriseysMother · 02/05/2026 18:11

Our council tax is our biggest outgoing. When we bought our house in 2001 it was £870 a year. It is now £4850! We are a band G but shouldn’t be. I have appealed it but they told me if they dropped our band they would have to do the whole road and they are not going to do that as they would loose too much money. What annoys me is that a £1.6m house with an annexe and land 2 mins from our house is also a band G and our house isn’t even worth the point 6. It was valued before it was built. Really grinds my gears!

Bookaholicwithwine · 02/05/2026 18:06

Notmycircusnotmyotter · 01/05/2026 12:14

My local council took £232 in direct debit today for council tax. I'll be honest, I don't budget to the pound, so was shocked when I saw it and assumed they had wrongly taken off my single person discount. But nope. £232 is what 75% of the council tax charge is for my 3 bed terrace.

WTAF. This feels insanely high.

please don't tell me all about bankrupt councils and adult social care. I've heard it. I know.

My point is how are ordinary people paying these sorts of bills? I'm a single parent of two on a decent wage and it stings.

I think it depends where you live ? I have a 25% discount as single and I pay £142 month now for living in a 3 bed in York

Moii · 02/05/2026 18:04

Housing benefits are a biggie out of it.

Irememberwhenitwasallfieldsroundhere · 02/05/2026 16:08

Ours is £400 a month

PropertyD · 02/05/2026 16:02

For the 2024–25 financial year, approximately £4.80 to £5.34 out of every £20 in Birmingham's council tax goes toward staff pension contributions. 1, 2, 3]
Breakdown of Spending

Proportion: Recent data shows that nearly one-quarter (roughly 24% to 26.7%) of all council tax raised is used for employer contributions to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).

Labour’s Birmingham Council Slashes Services While Pouring £129m Into Staff Pensions

Labour-run Birmingham City Council stripped almost £150m from frontline services last year, yet still found nearly the same amount to pour into its own staff pension scheme, newly released figures show. The authority, which effectively declared itself...

https://conservativepost.co.uk/labours-birmingham-council-slashes-services-while-pouring-129m-into-staff-pensions/

DanceMumTaxi · 02/05/2026 16:02

Ours is £255 now paid over 12 months. Everything going up, nothing coming down. Wages definitely not keeping up.

PropertyD · 02/05/2026 16:00

Birmingham City Council for every £20 pay nearly 25% of it towards their pensions.

DancingLions · 02/05/2026 15:54

While I understand why the rates are different in different areas, it does seem unfair. It's not like everyone can just up and move to a cheaper CT area. Because clearly that doesn't correlate at all with cheaper areas to live in general.

I think it's becoming ridiculous when for some people its getting close to £400 a month. I certainly couldn't afford that, not without scrimping elsewhere and my wage is decent enough.

It's all just take, take, take from us. So depressing.

menopausalmare · 02/05/2026 13:13

snowmichael · 01/05/2026 16:14

It would probably help to get a balanced view if people felt comfortable listing their council and/or their band, although I quite accept this might be too much to share for some

I am in Runnymede, which has a lower than average age for council residents in England, but also one of the highest average incomes

Band D here is £249/month for 26/27

My 5-bed detached house is Band F, at £292

Looking at the figures people are being expected to pay, I can understand why councils are refusing to put where they rank on the national list on your council tax bill

You can find out the Band D figures here https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/council-tax-levels-set-by-local-authorities-in-england-2026-to-2027

If your council is charging more than average, then publicise this, and persuade people to vote the incumbent councillors out next week

Edited

Wow .I'm next door to you in Spelthorne and band E is £309 a month for a 3 bed semi. After the Surrey shuffle, it will be interesting to see how council tax is affected once we're in the same ward.

Differentforgirls · 02/05/2026 13:07

WTAFIsWrongWithPeople · 01/05/2026 13:25

Local council workers are not civil servants.

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But they pay tax too which is the point. We’re all public service workers.

Differentforgirls · 02/05/2026 13:00

loislovesstewie · 01/05/2026 13:16

I'm a retired public sector worker. When I went home at the end of the day, I hadn't increased the profitv of an organization, I hadn't produced something tangible, so I couldn't point to an item I had made. What I could do however was point out that I had :
Made a different to the lives of several people.
Given advice that would have improved a person's life.
Often went above and beyond so that I could assist a person with something that actually wasn't my job.
No, I don't expect a pat on the back for it, or a fanfare lots of us did precisely that. However I did expect to be paid for it. And it wasn't a fortune although I do get a decent pension.
You could have joined us, if you want.

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Original poster

Notmycircusnotmyotter · 02/05/2026 11:45

I've had a look at the list. No wonder it stings. I've moved from number 1 cheapest (Wandsworth) to 223rd (Epsom). Council tax used to be around £90 pcm for my flat. Nearly £250 now here.

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