Council tax data for 2025-26: CCN responds

Today the government has published average council tax rates for next year, showing what average Band D properties will be paying in 2025-26.

The data shows that across England, residents will be paying £2,280 in 2025-26 on average from April. But for residents in county areas, the average Band D charge is higher than the national average at £2,381 due to historical underfunding of county and unitary councils.

Below, the County Councils Network responds to the data.

Cllr Barry Lewis, Finance Spokesperson for the County Councils Network, said:

“Today’s figures show that residents in county areas continue to pay some of the highest council tax rates in England, and they pay significantly more than people living in large towns and cities. This year, some of those urban councils are in a position to freeze council tax or scale back service reductions due to the government focusing funding on these places at the expense of county areas.

“Councils in county areas have lost more central government funding over the past two decades than other parts of the country, leaving them more reliant on council tax to fund vital services such as adult social care, pothole repairs, libraries, and special educational needs. This is despite councils in county areas seeing demand and costs for adult social care and children’s social care rise more than any other part of England, and this is projected to continue during the course of this Parliament.

“The government is set to permanently update the distribution of funding to councils in its forthcoming ‘fair funding review’. But if funds are focused heavily on urban areas – despite little evidence to support this – then it will widen this gap even further, leaving counties even more reliant on their local taxpayers to fund their services. That is why the fair funding review must be based on robust evidence of how much individual councils need to deliver the most costly and under-pressure services.”

Notes to editor

• The £2,381 average Band D figure in this email relates to those 37 councils in the CCN’s membership, plus Leicestershire County Council. The reference to ‘central government funding’ is denotes government grant funding, not core spending power.