The vast majority of councils have signalled they will apply a maximum council tax increase of 4.99% this year, analysis shows.
Some 85% of the 139 top-tier authorities in England are planning or proposing a rise just short of 5% – the threshold that would trigger a local referendum in normal circumstances, the PA news agency reported.
When the six councils in acute financial stress that were granted permission to increase council tax beyond this level, with some up to 10%, the proportion increases to nearly 90%.
Those councils – Bradford, Newham, Windsor and Maidenhead, Birmingham, Somerset and Trafford – were not given the full amount they requested.
Of the councils which have disclosed plans, 122 are proposals awaiting approval from full council and 17 have been confirmed, leaving 14 yet to declare their intentions, analysis by PA shows.
Based on trends in recent years, it is unlikely that a council tax rise proposed by senior councillors will be rejected by full council at this late stage of the budget process.
Just 15 councils are planning increases below 4.99%.
They include 4.98% in Barnet, north London, and Warrington, Cheshire.
South Tyneside and Stockton-on-Tees have both opted for 4.95%, while Torbay is set for 4.75% and Wiltshire is at 4.50%.
Kensington & Chelsea in London will see a 4% rise, while Doncaster in South Yorkshire is at 3.99%, North East Lincolnshire at 3.98%, Essex at 3.75%, Rotherham in South Yorkshire at 3%, and Lincolnshire at 2.99%.
Wandsworth in south London will stay at 2%.
All upper-tier councils in the East Midlands, eastern England, the North East and the South West have proposed or confirmed their council tax increases.
In the East Midlands eight of the region’s ten councils have opted for the maximum rise, while nine out of 10 have hit this threshold in eastern England.
Of the 33 London councils, including the City of London, six are yet to disclose their council tax plans.
Newham, which has been given permission to increase council tax by 8.99%, has blamed rising homelessness and the soaring costs of temporary accommodation for its decision to implement one of the biggest increases to the levy in England.
Among councils in the North West, 19 of the 21 that have confirmed plans decided on a 4.99% rise.
Warrington chose a 4.98% increase and Trafford in Greater Manchester has been granted permission for a rise of 7.49%.
In the South East, 16 of the 20 councils are planning a 4.99% increase and one, Windsor & Maidenhead, in Berkshire, has been cleared to increase beyond the cap to 8.99%.
Apart from Birmingham, which has been given permission to raise council tax by 7.49%, all 13 upper-tier councils in the West Midlands which have disclosed their plans opted for a 4.99% increase.
Three of the 15 councils in the Yorkshire & Humber region have set council tax increases at less than 4%: Rotherham has set a 3.00% rise, North East Lincolnshire 3.98% and Doncaster 3.99%.
The Government’s figure of a 6.8% overall increase in councils’ spending power in 2026-26 assumed all councils would increase council tax to 4.99%.
Wandsworth’s increase of 2% represents the third year in a row that council tax has been frozen in the borough, which is said to have the lowest council tax in the country.
Council leader Simon Hogg said: “Sound financial management is at the heart of everything we do.
“Wandsworth has one of the lowest levels of debt and some of the highest financial reserves in London, allowing us to freeze the main element of council tax and invest in what matters most to you – cleaner streets, safer neighbourhoods and a stronger community.”
Confirming what is currently the second lowest proposed increase in council tax in England of 2.99%, Lincolnshire leader Martin Hill questioned why some councils are permitted to raise council tax beyond the referendum threshold.
He said: “We do feel there is an element of penalising success and rewarding failure.
“We have always done the right thing at the county council. We have lived within our budget, kept our council tax low and it is a bit frustrating that other councils can’t seem to manage to do that at the same time we live within our means.”
The Resolution Foundation said the poorest fifth of households across the UK paid 4.8% of their income on council tax in 2020-21, up from 2.9% in 2002-3.
The think tank identified that this share of income was three times more than the 1.5% spent by the richest fifth.
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