Council tax bands: ranges, ratios and what each band costs

The value ranges

A band is a bracket of values, set in law and the same for every council of the nation. In England and Wales they are fixed by section 5 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (section 5 of the 1992 Act); the Valuation Office explains how it places a home in its band (GOV.UK, how bands are assessed).

The Welsh brackets are higher because they use prices twelve years later. They are not a guide to a Welsh home's value today either: they too are frozen, and the Welsh revaluation planned for 2028 will set new ones.

Scotland's own ratios

Scotland uses the same 1991 date as England but lower brackets, because house prices there were lower in 1991. Since 1 April 2017 (bands E to H raised by 7.5 %, 12.5 %, 17.5 % and 22.5 %), the four upper bands pay more than the English fractions (Council Tax (Substitution of Proportion) (Scotland) Order 2016):

A Scottish Band H home pays 245.0 % of Band D against 200.0 % in England. Scottish bills also carry water and waste water charges, which keep the older, flatter ratios; they are explained on the Scotland page.

From Band D to every band

Each council sets a single figure, the Band D charge, and the law turns it into the other bands. That is why the band matters more than the council in the range of possible bills: within a council, Band H always pays three times Band A in England and Wales. Four councils far apart show how wide the spread is in 2026/27:

The calculator above lists every band for the council you choose. The full bill calculator then applies who lives in the home and any premium.

How a home got its band

In 1991 and 1992, valuers placed some twenty million homes in England and Wales in bands in a short time, often without going inside, using sales of similar homes. That speed explains why mistakes still turn up: identical houses on one road can sit in different bands. New homes are banded when they are built, by asking what they would have been worth on the valuation date, given the area as it is now. A home that is split into flats gets one band per flat; two flats merged into a house get a single band.

An extension or a new kitchen does not change the band while you own the home. The Valuation Office only takes improvements into account when the home is next sold, or if there is a general revaluation. Physical changes to the area, such as a new main road, can on the other hand justify a lower band at any time.

Bands do not drift with the market either. A home that has doubled in price since you bought it stays in the same band, and so does one that has lost value. Only a sale after improvements, a physical change, a successful challenge or a revaluation moves it, which is why two neighbours who bought twenty years apart pay the same.

Bands and the bill

The band charge is a starting point. A household's real bill then changes with:

• who lives there, through the single person discount, the people who are disregarded and the student exemption;
• the home itself, through the Disabled Band Reduction, which charges an adapted home at the band below, and the rules for annexes;
• how it is used, through the premiums on second homes and empty homes, which multiply the band charge.

The Disabled Band Reduction is the only rule that works by moving a home to another band; everything else is a percentage of the band charge.

Finding and checking your band

Your band is printed on every bill. You can also look it up, and see your neighbours' bands, on the official search service; the page on checking a band shows how. If you think a home is in the wrong band, the band estimator turns a 1991 or 2003 value into a band, and the challenge guide explains when and how to ask for a change, and the risk that the band goes up.

Why Band D is the yardstick

Band D was the middle of the 1991 value range and the band an average home was expected to fall in when the tax was designed. Every official table, every press comparison and every referendum limit uses it. That makes Band D a good way to compare councils but a poor picture of a typical bill: in the North East and much of the Midlands most homes are in Bands A and B, and pay two thirds or less of the Band D figure, while in London and the South East a large share of homes sit above it.

The ratios also explain why council tax is often called regressive. A Band H home worth ten times a Band A home pays only three times as much in England. The Scottish change of 2017 and the Welsh ninth band were both attempts to make the top of the scale pay a little more.

Bands and the type of home

A band says nothing about the kind of property, only its value on the valuation date. A two-bedroom flat in Kensington and a detached farmhouse in Durham can share Band E. The ratios are the same for houses, flats, houseboats and caravans on residential pitches: each dwelling has its own entry in the valuation list. Houses in multiple occupation are usually banded as one dwelling, with the landlord liable for the bill, unless the rooms are self-contained.

A home with a self-contained annex usually has two bands, one for the main house and one for the annex. Both can be cut or removed by the discounts and exemptions on the annex page.

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland has no council tax and no bands. Homes pay domestic rates, based on each property's capital value on 1 January 2005 multiplied by a regional and a district rate. Nothing on this site applies there.

Where the charges come from

Band D figures for 2026/27 come from the three official tables published in March 2026: council tax levels set by local authorities in England (MHCLG), council tax levels in Wales (Welsh Government), and the Scottish Government's council tax datasets (Scottish Government). England's figures include the average parish precept of each council; Welsh figures include police and community councils.