Where Council Tax is rising and falling in 2014/15

We take a look at which councils are increasing, freezing or cutting Council Tax for 2014/15.

The new tax year is nearly upon us.

And while there’s good news in the form of the increased Income Tax personal allowance, there’s also the small matter of changes to Council Tax to consider.

So let’s take a look at what councils have got planned for 2014/15.

Council Tax in England

The Government has set aside an extra £550 million, payable over the next two years, to help councils in England cope with freezing Council Tax in 2014/15 as well as in 2015/16.

Not every council has taken them up on that offer though, which is why the average Band D Council Tax level for the coming tax year has increased by 0.9%. In cash terms that means the average bill for 2014/15 is now £1,468, £12 more than the previous year.

251 out of 421 authorities have opted to freeze Council Tax over 2014/15 and will receive a grant from the Government. That's six fewer than 2013/14.

However, when you look at each individual council’s actions, the number of councils actually freezing Council Tax in cash terms are minimal. The vast majority are imposing increases.

So where in England is Council Tax going up, staying the same or going down?

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English councils that have frozen or cut Council Tax

Here are the councils in England that have announced a cut or freeze on Council Tax for 2014/15.

Local authority	Band D 2013/14	Band D 2014/15	% change
Hammersmith & Fulham	£1,061	£1,034	-2.52%
Windsor & Maidenhead UA	£1,182	£1,166	-1.30%
Barnet	£1,416	£1,401	-1.07%
Hounslow	£1,388	£1,379	-0.68%
Wandsworth	£692	£687	-0.60%
Westminster	£681	£678	-0.42%
Kensington & Chelsea	£1,086	£1,082	-0.37%
Tower Hamlets	£1,189	£1,185	-0.34%
Lambeth	£1,228	£1,224	-0.33%
Newham	£1,249	£1,245	-0.32%
Southwark	£1,215	£1,211	-0.32%
Islington	£1,265	£1,261	-0.32%
Greenwich	£1,284	£1,280	-0.31%
Hackney	£1,301	£1,297	-0.31%
Bromley	£1,313	£1,309	-0.30%
Barking & Dagenham	£1,319	£1,315	-0.30%
Camden	£1,325	£1,321	-0.30%
Brent	£1,362	£1,358	-0.29%
Ealing	£1,363	£1,359	-0.29%
Lewisham	£1,399	£1,359	-0.29%
Redbridge	£1,399	£1,395	-0.29%
Enfield	£1,403	£1,399	-0.29%
Merton	£1,410	£1,406	-0.28%
Hillingdon	£1,416	£1,412	-0.28%
Bexley	£1,432	£1,428	-0.28%
Sutton	£1,444	£1,440	-0.28%
Waltham Forest	£1,455	£1,451	-0.27%
Croydon	£1,474	£1,470	-0.27%
Haringey	£1,487	£1,483	-0.27%
Havering	£1,498	£1,494	-0.27%
Harrow	£1,513	£1,509	-0.26%
Richmond-upon-Thames	£1,590	£1,586	-0.25%
Kingston-upon-Thames	£1,683	£1,679	-0.24%
Stafford	£1,439	£1,436	-0.19%
East Staffordshire	£1,486	£1,483	-0.18%
City of London	£943	£942	-0.17%
South Staffordshire	£1,417	£1,416	-0.08%
Cannock Chase	£1,495	£1,495	-0.01%
Newcastle-under-Lyme	£1,458	£1,458	-0.01%
Staffordshire	£1,027	£1,027	0%
Somerset	£1,027	£1,027	0%
Hampshire	£1,038	£1,038	0%
Leicestershire	£1,063	£1,063	0%
Lincolnshire	£1,066	£1,066	0%
Essex	£1,087	£1,087	0%
Gloucestershire	£1,091	£1,091	0%
Hertfordshire	£1,119	£1,119	0%
Suffolk	£1,127	£1,127	0%
Norfolk	£1,145	£1,145	0%
Cumbria	£1,162	£1,162	0%
West Sussex	£1,162	£1,162	0%
Sunderland	£1,346	£1,346	0%
Broxbourne	£1,380	£1,380	0%
Wigan	£1,403	£1,403	0%
Stoke-on-Trent UA	£1,429	£1,429	0%
South Tyneside	£1,451	£1,451	0%
Stevenage	£1,455	£1,455	0%
Staffordshire Moorlands	£1,456	£1,456	0%
North Tyneside	£1,488	£1,488	0%
Bournemouth UA	£1,499	£1,499	0%
Watford	£1,516	£1,516	0%
Gateshead	£1,603	£1,603	0%

Source: Communities.gov.uk

None of these cuts actually amounts to an above-inflation cut. Indeed, the vast majority of them are very modest at only a couple of pounds.

English councils that have raised Council Tax

There are simply too many councils raising Council Tax in cash terms to cover here. So instead I’ve just featured the councils imposing rises of at least 1.96%.

Local authority	Band D 2013/14	Band D 2014/15	% change
Northumberland UA	£1,513	£1,559	3.06%
Isle of Wight Council UA	£1,475	£1,513	2.56%
Purbeck	£1,643	£1,683	2.44%
North Dorset	£1,605	£1,644	2.44%
Cornwall UA	£1,477	£1,512	2.39%
Pendle	£1,557	£1,593	2.27%
Herefordshire UA	£1,519	£1,552	2.18%
West Dorset	£1,615	£1,650	2.16%
Torridge	£1,539	£1,573	2.16%
Daventry	£1,415	£1,446	2.15%
West Oxfordshire	£1,491	£1,522	2.14%
East Dorset	£1,653	£1,688	2.14%
Selby	£1,532	£1,564	2.10%
Bassetlaw	£1,611	£1,644	2.09%
Sevenoaks	£1,513	£1,545	2.08%
Durham UA	£1,608	£1,641	2.08%
Ashfield	£1,606	£1,639	2.07%
Maidstone	£1,505	£1,536	2.07%
West Devon	£1,611	£1,643	2.02%
Tunbridge Wells	£1,451	£1,480	2.01%
Tonbridge & Malling	£1,479	£1,509	2.00%
East Northamptonshire	£1,428	£1,456	2.00%
Guildford	£1,550	£1,581	2.00%
Derbyshire	£1,077	£1,099	1.99%
Oxford	£1,614	£1,646	1.99%
St Helens	£1,395	£1,422	1.99%
Wellingborough	£1,370	£1,397	1.99%
Kent	£1,048	£1,069	1.99%
Devon	£1,116	£1,139	1.99%
Birmingham	£1,269	£1,294	1.99%
Exeter	£1,485	£1,514	1.99%
Oxfordshire	£1,185	£1,208	1.99%
Northamptonshire	£1,028	£1,049	1.99%
Wolverhampton	£1,472	£1,501	1.99%
Isles of Scilly	£1,193	£1,217	1.99%
Nottinghamshire	£1,193	£1,217	1.99%
North Yorkshire	£1,057	£1,079	1.99%
Lancashire	£1,086	£1,108	1.99%
Plymouth UA	£1,508	£1,538	1.99%
Medway UA	£1,355	£1,382	1.99%
Cambridgeshire	£1,100	£1,122	1.99%
Surrey	£1,173	£1,196	1.99%
Dorset	£1,168	£1,192	1.99%
Liverpool	£1,553	£1,584	1.99%
Weymouth & Portland	£1,692	£1,726	1.99%
Warwickshire	£1,155	£1,178	1.99%
Reigate & Banstead	£1,583	£1,615	1.98%
Mole Valley	£1,539	£1,569	1.98%
Spelthorne	£1,556	£1,586	1.98%
Sefton	£1,500	£1,530	1.98%
Woking	£1,589	£1,620	1.98%
Brighton & Hove UA	£1,508	£1,538	1.98%
Gravesham	£1,439	£1,468	1.98%
Epsom & Ewell	£1,551	£1,581	1.98%
Christchurch	£1,596	£1,628	1.98%
Darlington UA	£1,465	£1,494	1.98%
Surrey Heath	£1,587	£1,619	1.98%
Malvern Hills	£1,482	£1,512	1.97%
Redcar & Cleveland UA	£1,644	£1,677	1.96%
Swale	£1,435	£1,463	1.96%
Doncaster	£1,332	£1,358	1.96%
Worcester	£1,457	£1,486	1.96%
Hambleton	£1,448	£1,476	1.96%
Bristol UA	£1,597	£1,629	1.96%

Source: Communities.gov.uk

So, some far more significant changes when it comes to Council Tax increases, with residents in Northumberland UA, Isle of Wight UA, Purbeck and North Dorset all needing to shell out £40 or more extra next year.

Compare current accounts with lovemoney.com

Council Tax in Wales

Across the Welsh principality, Council Tax will rise by an average of 4.2% for 2014/15.

Here’s the breakdown of the changes in each of the Unitary Authorities.

Local authority	Band D 2013/14	Band D 2014/15	% change
Swansea	£1,220	£1,280	4.92%
Bridgend	£1,347	£1,413	4.90%
Vale of Glamorgan	£1,206	£1,261	4.56%
Conwy	£1,176	£1,229	4.51%
Rhondda Cynon Taf	£1,398	£1,461	4.51%
Ceredigion	£1,205	£1,259	4.48%
Neath Port Talbot	£1,476	£1,542	4.47%
Powys	£1,203	£1,255	4.32%
Blaenau Gwent	£1,526	£1,591	4.26%
Carmarthenshire	£1,254	£1,307	4.23%
Newport	£1,057	£1,101	4.16%
Cardiff	£1,120	£1,166	4.11%
Merthyr Tydfil	£1,428	£1,486	4.06%
Isle of Anglesey	£1,194	£1,242	4.02%
Monmouthshire	£1,236	£1,285	3.96%
Torfaen	£1,246	£1,294	3.85%
Caerphilly	£1,128	£1,169	3.63%
Gwynedd	£1,323	£1,371	3.63%
Denbighshire	£1,336	£1,380	3.29%
Pembrokeshire	£974	£1,005	3.18%
Wrexham	£1,201	£1,238	3.08%
Flintshire	£1,221	£1,255	2.78%

Source: StatsWales

Council Tax in Scotland

For the seventh straight year Council Tax has been frozen by all of Scotland’s 32 local authorities.

Rates in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland doesn’t have Council Tax, instead using a system called rates. These consist of both regional and district rates and vary depending on whether the property is domestic or non-domestic.

Regional rates are set by the Northern Ireland Assembly and account for just over half of a typical rates bill.

District rates are fixed by each district council.

Your total rate is calculated as follows: the regional rate and the district rate are added together, and then multiplied by the capital value of your property.

Regional rates are increasing by 2.7% in 2014/2015, rising from 0.3882p to 0.3986p.

The table below details the changes to domestic district rates across the 26 districts in Northern Ireland.

District council	2013/14 rate (pence)	2014/15 rate (pence)	% change
Larne	0.3799	0.3904	2.76%
Derry	0.4173	0.4281	2.59%
Strabane	0.3715	0.3808	2.50%
Armagh	0.4121	0.4199	1.89%
Banbridge	0.3706	0.3769	1.70%
Ballymena	0.3820	0.3877	1.49%
North Down	0.2880	0.2923	1.49%
Carrickfergus	0.3881	0.3933	1.34%
Lisburn	0.2643	0.2669	0.98%
Cookstown	0.2853	0.2879	0.91%
Ards	0.2771	0.2796	0.90%
Down	0.3513	0.3513	0%
Magherafelt	0.2693	0.2693	0%
Coleraine	0.3206	0.3206	0%
Limavady	0.4124	0.4124	0%
Moyle	0.3902	0.3902	0%
Fermanagh	0.2543	0.2543	0%
Craigavon	0.3907	0.3907	0%
Newtownabbey	0.3423	0.3423	0%
Newry & Moume	0.3303	0.3303	0%
Antrim	0.3690	0.3690	0%
Belfast	0.3094	0.3094	0%
Ballymoney	0.3525	0.3516	-0.26%
Castlereagh	0.2198	0.2176	-1%
Omagh	0.3809	0.3752	-1.50%
Dungannon & South Tyrone	0.2852	0.2542	-10.87%

Source: NI Direct

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More on Council Tax:

Council Tax rebanding: the risks

How to slash your Council tax bill

Second home Council Tax discount to end in April

Council Tax Reduction schemes: what you need to know