Council tax rises announced across UK - how much is yours increasing?

Across the 139 top tier authorities in England, 85% will raise levels by 4.99% - the most possible without triggering a local referendum.

Another six councils have already been granted permission to surpass this ceiling without a vote because they are in financial crisis. That takes the total percentage to 90%.

In Scotland and Wales, even higher rises are expected in scores of districts.

Five councils in Wales are hiking council tax up by around 10%.

Conwy County Borough Council will hike bills up 10% (£213.59), Ceredigion County Council's levy will surge 9.9% (£208.28) and Carmarthenshire County Council is imposing a 9.75% (£200.08) rise.

It's a 9.5% rise in both Flintshire and Wrexham (£195.93 and £191.33 respectively).

The Scottish Government forced councils to freeze council tax in 2024-25, and now authorities are pushing through huge hikes to make up for it.

East Lothian and Scottish Borders Councils have both confirmed bills will rise by 10%, while Fife Council has announced an 8.2% increase and Glasgow 7.5%.

A 10% rise has been proposed in North Lanarkshire, and 8% in Edinburgh.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) claimed Scottish councils would need to ramp up council tax by an average of 18-19% to keep up with funding in England.

In England, just 15 councils are planning increases below the 4.99% threshold, according to the Press Association. It did not list all 15, but the authorities include:

Councils granted permission to raise council tax above 4.99% include:

Of the 139 councils in England to declare, 122 still need to be rubber stamped by full council and 17 are confirmed.

Another 14 councils are still to declare their proposals.

It is unlikely proposals will be rejected.

How to challenge your council tax band

The Resolution Foundation found the poorest households are paying an increasing proportion of their income on council tax.

The poorest fifth of households across the UK spent 4.8% of their income on council tax in 2020-2021, compared to 2.9% in 2002-2003.

The richest fifth of households spent 1.5% of their income on council tax in 2020-21.

NimbleFins research found 37% of those who submitted a claim on their council tax band were successful in changing it in the year ending March 2024. This saw almost 5,000 households secured a reduction in their council tax in just one year.

We've explained how to check if you're overpaying council tax because you're on the wrong band, and how to challenge your council tax band.

Research published last month found four in five county and rural local authorities say they are now in a worse position than before the Autumn Budget despite the Government heralding a ‘significant real-terms funding increase’ for councils.

The County Councils Network, which carried out the snap survey on its 37 members said despite the Government announcing £515m in compensation for the employers’ National Insurance increase, not one council said their anticipated sum would cover all their new costs.

A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: "While councils are ultimately responsible for setting their own council tax levels, we are clear that they should put taxpayers first and carefully consider the impact of their decisions.

"That's why we are maintaining a referendum threshold on council tax rises, so taxpayers can have the final say and be protected from excessive increases.

"Alongside this, we have taken a stricter approach than the previous government by only agreeing to a limited number of higher tax rises for councils in desperate need, so we can keep taxes on working people as low as possible."

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