Council tax is one of the largest running costs of owning or renting a home, and almost nobody is told how it is worked out. The band on your bill is not based on what your home is worth now — it is based on what it was worth in 1991. Here is what each band costs, why two identical houses can pay wildly different amounts, and what to do if you think your band is wrong.
The short answer
When council tax replaced the community charge in 1993, every home in England and Scotland was placed in a band according to its estimated open-market value on 1 April 1991. Wales was revalued once, in 2005, using 1 April 2003 values, and gained a ninth band. Neither England nor Scotland has ever revalued.
That has an odd consequence. A flat completed in 2025 still has to be assigned a band by estimating what an equivalent property would have fetched in 1991. It also means a home that would sell for £600,000 today can sit in a low band, while a similar home nearby sits higher, purely because of how the original valuation went. The band reflects a snapshot of the market taken over thirty years ago, not today's value.
Northern Ireland never adopted council tax at all. It uses domestic rates based on capital value, so none of the band letters below apply there.
Band D is the benchmark. Your council sets a Band D figure each year — its own budget plus precepts for police, fire and, in some places, a parish or town council — and every other band is charged as a fixed statutory fraction of it. Band A pays six ninths of Band D; Band H pays eighteen ninths, exactly double.
The figures below apply those ratios to the England average Band D of £2,392 for 2026/27. They are national averages, useful for seeing the shape of the system. They are not your bill.
| Band | 1991 value (England) | Ratio to Band D | Average per year | Per month (over 12) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Up to £40,000 | 6/9 | £1,595 | £133 |
| B | £40,001–£52,000 | 7/9 | £1,860 | £155 |
| C | £52,001–£68,000 | 8/9 | £2,126 | £177 |
| D | £68,001–£88,000 | 9/9 | £2,392 | £199 |
| E | £88,001–£120,000 | 11/9 | £2,924 | £244 |
| F | £120,001–£160,000 | 13/9 | £3,455 | £288 |
| G | £160,001–£320,000 | 15/9 | £3,987 | £332 |
| H | Over £320,000 | 18/9 | £4,784 | £399 |
One practical note on the monthly column: councils bill over ten instalments by default, not twelve, which makes the monthly figure look higher than it needs to. You can ask your council to spread payments across twelve months instead. It does not reduce what you pay, but it smooths the cost — a Band D bill drops from about £239 a month to about £199.
This is the part that catches people out when they move. The band letter tells you only half the story; the council that bills you determines the actual cost, and the spread is enormous.
For 2026/27, Band D ranges from roughly £1,028 in Wandsworth to £2,765 in Dorset — a difference of over £1,700 a year on the same band, for the same size of home. London boroughs sit lower on average than shire areas, largely because of how central government funding and business rates are distributed rather than any difference in spending per resident.
If you are comparing two areas when buying, this belongs in your sums alongside the mortgage. Over a five-year hold, a £1,000 annual difference in council tax is £5,000 — enough to change which house is genuinely the cheaper one. It is one of the running costs we cover in the full cost of buying a house.
| Nation | Valuation date | Bands | Who holds the register |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | 1 April 1991 | A–H (A up to £40,000; H over £320,000) | Valuation Office Agency |
| Wales | 1 April 2003 | A–I (A up to £44,000; I over £424,000) | Valuation Office Agency |
| Scotland | 1 April 1991 | A–H, lower thresholds (A up to £27,000; H over £212,000) | Scottish Assessors |
| Northern Ireland | 1 January 2005 | No bands — domestic rates on capital value | Land & Property Services |
Two details worth knowing. Scottish thresholds are markedly lower, so a home worth £50,000 in 1991 would be Band B in England but Band D in Scotland — and since 2017 Scotland has charged a steeper multiple on bands E to H than England does. Wales, meanwhile, is the only nation legislating for regular revaluation: the Local Government Finance (Wales) Act 2024 provides for a revaluation cycle beginning in 2028, with reviews planned every five years thereafter.
Your band is on your annual council tax demand notice. If you do not have it to hand, the official register is free to search and is the only authoritative source:
We deliberately do not run our own band lookup. The register is the VOA's, it is free, and any third-party tool is only ever repeating it — often less accurately and less currently. Go to the source.
Bands were set in a hurry in the early 1990s, sometimes from the kerbside, and errors persist. If comparable neighbouring properties sit in a lower band than yours, you may have a case.
The usual first step is the informal one: check what your immediate neighbours are banded at on the official register. If yours is out of line with similar properties on the same street, you can ask the VOA (or the Scottish Assessors) to review it. A formal proposal has stricter grounds and time limits — typically tied to becoming a new taxpayer at the property, or to a material change such as part of the property being demolished.
Before you challenge: a review can move your band up as well as down, and the VOA may look at neighbouring properties in the same street at the same time. Check the comparables carefully before you start, rather than after.
Several reductions can cut the bill, and they are routinely missed:
Discounts are not applied automatically. If your circumstances change — someone moves out, a household becomes all-student — you need to tell the council.
Council tax does not follow you; it is tied to the property. When you move you need to close the account with your old council and open one with the new, giving both your moving date. Do it promptly: you are liable for the property from the day you take occupation, and councils are entitled to backdate.
Two things worth checking before completion. First, what band the property you are buying is in — it is on the register, and it is a running cost you inherit. Second, whether the area charges a premium on empty homes, which matters if there is a gap between completion and moving in. Alongside service charges and running costs, it belongs in the affordability picture rather than as an afterthought.
Band A is charged at six ninths of the Band D rate — about two thirds. Against the 2026/27 England average Band D of £2,392, that is roughly £1,595 a year, or about £133 a month spread over twelve instalments. Your own council sets its own Band D rate, so the actual figure varies considerably by area.
The average Band D bill in England for 2026/27 is £2,392 a year. Councils bill over ten instalments by default, which is about £239 a month, or about £199 a month if you ask to spread payments over twelve months instead.
In England and Scotland, on what a property was worth on 1 April 1991. In Wales, on 1 April 2003 values. Neither England nor Scotland has ever revalued, so a home built last year is still slotted into an estimated 1991 price band.
Yes. In England and Wales you contact the Valuation Office Agency; in Scotland, the Scottish Assessors. The usual evidence is comparable neighbouring properties in a lower band. Be aware that a review can move a band up as well as down, and it can affect neighbouring properties too.
Because each local authority sets its own Band D rate every year, and every other band is a fixed fraction of it. In 2026/27 the Band D charge ranges from around £1,028 in Wandsworth to £2,765 in Dorset — a gap of over £1,700 on the same band.