Page 9 | Council tax bill - is this wild or are yours insanely high too?

Notmycircusnotmyotter · 2026-05-01T11:14:43+00:00

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.

HPFA · 01/05/2026 15:44

MsGreying · 01/05/2026 15:29

Pensions too.

And the diversity officers.

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Weren't Reform going to sack all those?

Except they found they mostly don't exist.

HPFA · 01/05/2026 15:43

Buscobel · 01/05/2026 14:55

I sthink people would be more accepting, if there was some clarity about how council tax payments are arrived at, in different areas and how the banding system actually works. There seem to be so many anomalies in n £00the way these things re calculated and why there is so much variation across the country.

We moved eighteen months ago, downsizing. Council tax then was less than £200 a month for a three bed house. Less than two years later, it’s £244 a month and the increase this year was in excess of 5%. We are rapidly getting to the point where we cannot cope with more increases.

It's because the council tax is based on property valuations for 1992.

Most experts would say that a revaluation of council tax is badly needed but politicians avoid it because inevitably there would be losers. As you can see from this thread most people regard themselves as "givers" not "takers" when it comes to public services.

Timetakesacigarette · 01/05/2026 15:31

Notmycircusnotmyotter · 01/05/2026 12:16

I hadn't taken notice of it if I'm honest

That’s where you’ve gone wrong, not reading your letters.

Pickledonion1999 · 01/05/2026 15:30

LakieLady · 01/05/2026 15:29

That's shocking, @Pickledonion1999 ! PIP is supposed to be cover additional costs arising from illness/disability, not pay the fucking council tax.

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I'm sure there will be some kind of legal challenge to it soon.

MsGreying · 01/05/2026 15:29

Notmycircusnotmyotter · 01/05/2026 12:22

all of us paying for those public sector salaries

Pensions too.

And the diversity officers.

LakieLady · 01/05/2026 15:29

Pickledonion1999 · 01/05/2026 15:08

My area is one of just a couple in the whole country who have started to class PIP as income. It has badly affected a lot of disabled people. So if you live within this particular city boundary your PIP is counted as income and if you live a street away in the county it isn't.

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That's shocking, @Pickledonion1999 ! PIP is supposed to be cover additional costs arising from illness/disability, not pay the fucking council tax.

OpheliaWitchoftheWoods · 01/05/2026 15:28

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

LakieLady · 01/05/2026 15:26

FruAashild · 01/05/2026 15:04

I'm in a nice market town in the NE, our house is band F, and just checked, our bill this year is £3,600. So double what you pay each month, but actually our council is pretty average with what it charges so you must be in one of the lowest charging councils in the country.

Ranked Council Charges

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Thanks for that link @FruAashild .

My council tax is nearly at the top of the charts again, 2nd most expensive in the UK. They only came 4th last year!

Imlyingandthatsthetruth · 01/05/2026 15:23

Comparing individual council tax charges seems a bit pointless, we all know there's a huge variation across councils and which part of the country you're in. Not saying the charges are right or fair - all I effectively get for my £331 every month is street lights, bin collections (with food bins thrown on the lawn on their sides every week for free) and maybe twice a year street cleaning. But I understand that most of what they lever out of my tight fist goes on social care and what have you; so be it.

What I find incredible is that the OP is prepared to bury her head in the sand and not do any forward planning or budgeting. Come on, the councils (well, ours, but I'm sure all the rest too) send the information out with a pretty full breakdown of the increase every year. I may not like it but I know exactly what I'm going to be paying come April, why on earth would you ignore that?

Bringbackbuffy · 01/05/2026 15:22

£377 with single person discount for a 3 bed semi here. Makes me feel sick

JHound · 01/05/2026 15:19

LostFuse · 01/05/2026 13:44

In 2016-17 councils and other bodies across England paid £7.4bn in pension contributions, although it's uncertain exactly how much of that was funded by council tax.
During that period, people in England paid £26bn in council tax, which accounted for 28% of total local government funding.
If 28% of local authority pension contributions that year came from council tax, then the cost would be about £2bn.
That amounts to 8p of every £1 of council tax paid in England.

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Thanks for that context! I could not read the article.

JHound · 01/05/2026 15:17

Strawberries86 · 01/05/2026 13:33

Im public sector and for the number of people I manage, level of responsibility and budget I would earn twice what I do now in the private world. Trust me even with my pension, you are getting value for money. That said I hate council tax!

I’m private sector (always have been) and hear this a lot. People I knew that worked for state / local government entities all had the same comment. Once salary was taken into consideration (and for some bonus) their total remuneration was much higher even taking into account lower pension contributions.

Beachforever · 01/05/2026 15:17

@FruAashild I had no idea that the difference was so large. Our council does regularly remind us that we have one of the lowest rates in the country but I just thought it was a few percent lower and more than made up for by the amount we pay for parking permits. I didn’t realise some places pay double what we do.

JackandVictor · 01/05/2026 15:13

bogginbluesticks · 01/05/2026 13:28

@JackandVictor assume from username that you're also Scottish? When we moved into our home it was banded as an E but Google told me other comparable houses in the street were D. I appealed and had it accepted so ours was rebanded down and the excess already paid was refunded. Told our next door neighbour who did the same and had 8 years of overpayment paid back to them. May be worth exploring for you.

Edited

That was supposed to say glad you got yours sorted but I'm really nice of you to tell your neighbour as well. I bet they were so pleased. Well done!!

JHound · 01/05/2026 15:12

ProudAmberTurtle · 01/05/2026 13:30

It's very well known.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/quarter-of-council-tax-revenue-spent-on-unjustifiably-generous-staff-pensions-xrvlmj6hp

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I can’t read it but if ~78% is social care (posted earlier) and 25% is salaries then something is not adding up.

JackandVictor · 01/05/2026 15:10

bogginbluesticks · 01/05/2026 13:28

@JackandVictor assume from username that you're also Scottish? When we moved into our home it was banded as an E but Google told me other comparable houses in the street were D. I appealed and had it accepted so ours was rebanded down and the excess already paid was refunded. Told our next door neighbour who did the same and had 8 years of overpayment paid back to them. May be worth exploring for you.

Edited

Not Scottish - but I did live in the Highlands for a while and was rewatching Still Game when I need a user name 😄

Thank you though! You can appeal in England as well and I did try it but the council were having none of it.

Glad you got yours sorted though. Well done!

TallulahBetty · 01/05/2026 15:09

Pickledonion1999 · 01/05/2026 15:08

My area is one of just a couple in the whole country who have started to class PIP as income. It has badly affected a lot of disabled people. So if you live within this particular city boundary your PIP is counted as income and if you live a street away in the county it isn't.

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Yep. Disgraceful.

MidnightMeltdown · 01/05/2026 15:08

TallulahBetty · 01/05/2026 15:04

Certain (bankrupt or nearly) councils were allowed to increase up to 10%. Mine is 9.5%.

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That’s pretty shit, but even 10% doesn’t make it jump from the £150 that OP was expecting, to £232

Pickledonion1999 · 01/05/2026 15:08

TallulahBetty · 01/05/2026 15:02

The issue is also how unfair the council tax reduction schemes are across the country, now there is no longer a nationwide CT support scheme. All councils are free to make up their own rules for who pays what.

Therefore, in some areas, people on purely UC/PIP income pay nothing, whereas those earning the equivalent wage pay full whack. In other areas, those on UC/PIP pay just as much as those with wages.

I am a debt advisor based over 3/4 council areas, and the above is a frequent scenario. It's ridiculous that this was allowed to happen.

My area is one of just a couple in the whole country who have started to class PIP as income. It has badly affected a lot of disabled people. So if you live within this particular city boundary your PIP is counted as income and if you live a street away in the county it isn't.

JHound · 01/05/2026 15:07

WTAFIsWrongWithPeople · 01/05/2026 13:25

Local council workers are not civil servants.

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They still pay taxes.

YourWinter · 01/05/2026 15:06

I’m in a 3 bed Band E tatty old semi-detached and mine is £232 after the 25% single person discount. I pay it over 10 months so no direct debit in Feb and March, when I get my car service and MoT, and a delivery of heating oil.

FruAashild · 01/05/2026 15:04

Beachforever · 01/05/2026 13:36

Gosh, I can’t believe how much all your council tax is. Mine is £147 per month, no discounts, Band F, nice part of London.

I'm in a nice market town in the NE, our house is band F, and just checked, our bill this year is £3,600. So double what you pay each month, but actually our council is pretty average with what it charges so you must be in one of the lowest charging councils in the country.

Ranked Council Charges

The most expensive Council Tax in the UK & where is it cheapest?

We've ranked every UK council based on their council tax charges for 2024/2025. Find out where has the most expensive Council Tax and more

https://www.pleaseconnectme.co.uk/blog/where-are-the-uks-most-expensive-council-tax/

TallulahBetty · 01/05/2026 15:04

MidnightMeltdown · 01/05/2026 15:02

I thought the council tax rise was capped around 5%. How can it possibly have jumped that much?

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Certain (bankrupt or nearly) councils were allowed to increase up to 10%. Mine is 9.5%.

JHound · 01/05/2026 15:04

Notmeagain12 · 01/05/2026 13:22

What always surprises me is how cheap London council tax is.

my sister lives in a 4 bed zone 3 semi, worth just under 1m at today’s prices, and her council tax is 230 for 10 months in band d!

I moved to the NE for cheaper living, also a band d property, and my council tax is £250..

So much for London being an expensive city. If you afford a house the actual costs are much lower- public transport, council tax etc are cheaper.

It depends where. Not all London councils are the same. Although a friend mine pays a tiny amount in central london but where she is I imagine the social care costs are lower.

Agapornis · 01/05/2026 15:03

I know a northern European country that charges x% of the house value to the owner, and a fixed amount per occupier. I think double tariffs on second homes. It works well there.