Following plenty of speculation over the past months, Londoners have found out how much they expect their council tax to rise this year. Councils have revealed how much tax will rise from April onwards. With 32 boroughs affected, in majority, council tax is expected to increase by around 5 percent but some could go even higher.
The highest increase to council tax will affect those in the London borough of Newham, with council tax set to go up by almost 1o percent to prevent them from going bust. Meanwhile, the lowest increase was in Wandsworth. The council kept the increase low by freezing the general expenditure charge and only increasing council tax to cover Adult Social Care.
In addition to this, the mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, has also shared that he wants his share of bills to increase by four percent – with a focus on providing more funding for the Metropolitan police. This will increase the mayor’s precept from £471.40 to £490.38 for benchmark Band D bills, which is a rise of £18.98. Put together, many households will pay in excess of £2,000 a year and roughly £200 a month over the 10-month billing cycle.
15 London boroughs already charge in excess of £2,000 a year for Band D bills. These include: Barking and Dagenham, Bexley, Brent, Camden, Croydon, Enfield, Haringey, Harrow, Havering, Kingston, Lewisham, Redbridge, Richmond, Sutton and Waltham Forest.
Greenwich said it had ‘no choice’ and had to take the ‘tough decision’ to increase its share of bills by 4.99 per cent, which will equate to £72.28 a year on its Band D bill. Similarly, Islington has revealed that its likely increase also amounted to £72.28 a year – at Band D.
Council Tax increases by London borough
Here’s how much each London borough will be increasing their council taxes:
- Barking and Dagenham, 4.99%
- Barnet, 4.98%
- Bexley, 4.99%
- Brent, 4.99%
- Bromley, 4.99%
- Camden, 4.99%
- Croydon, 4.99%
- Greenwich, 4.99%
- Ealing, 4.99%
- Enfield, 499%
- Hackney, 4.99%
- Hammersmith and Fulham, 4.99%
- Haringey, 4.99%
- Harrow, 4.99%
- Havering, 4.99%
- Hillingdon, 4.99%
- Hounslow, 4.99%
- Islington, 4.99%
- Kensington & Chelsea, 4%
- Kingston, 4.99%
- Lambeth, 4.99%
- Lewisham, 4.99%
- Merton, 4.99%
- Newham, 8.99%
- the highest increase in London
- Redbridge, 4.99%
- Richmond, 4.99%
- Southwark, 4.99%
- Sutton, 4.99%
- Tower Hamlets, 4.99%
- Waltham Forest, 4.99%
- Wandsworth, 2%
- The lowest increase in London
- Westminster, 4.99%
Find out more about your council tax increases on the official page of your council.