Central Bedfordshire Council Tax 2026
East of England, England · 135,100 domestic properties
According to MHCLG, Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026-27, Central Bedfordshire's Band D Council Tax is £2,516.16 for 2026-27, the 87th highest of 350 UK billing authorities (higher than 75% of them) and 8% above the UK average of £2,337.00. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Rossendale, Mole Valley, Cheshire West and Chester, Coventry, then Blackpool, Wyre Forest. Closest published housing-stock shapes include Arun, Cherwell, Wiltshire, Canterbury.
How we calculate this rank & percentile
We compare every UK billing authority with a published 2026-27 Band D rate (350 in total). Rank is one plus the number with a higher charge, so equal charges share a rank. Percentile is round(authorities with a lower charge ÷ 350 × 100). The UK average is the simple mean of every council's Band D rate in our coverage set. Because the rank spans all three nations, it compares what each authority charges, not what each charge buys. English bands rest on 1991 property values in eight bands, A to H, while Scotland uses its own 1991 thresholds and Wales revalued to 2003 values with a ninth band. An English Band D home is therefore not the same property profile as a Welsh or Scottish one. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Rossendale, Mole Valley, Cheshire West and Chester, Coventry, then Blackpool, Wyre Forest. See our methodology page for the full source-to-figure lineage.
- £2,516.16
- Band D charge · 2026 statutory
- Above the UK average
- +5.10%
- year-on-year vs £2,394.14
- Middle-half rise
- +7.7%
- vs UK avg £2,337.00
- £5,032.32
- Band H · 18/9 of Band D
Nearest published Band D rates sit with Rossendale, Mole Valley, Cheshire West and Chester, Coventry, then Blackpool, Wyre Forest. Closest published housing-stock shapes include Arun, Cherwell, Wiltshire, Canterbury. Open Rossendale for the closest published Band D on the same vintage.
Central Bedfordshire · year-on-year Band D
What changed for Central Bedfordshire
Central Bedfordshire's Band D Council Tax rose from £2,394.14 (2025-26) to £2,516.16 (2026-27). Among 350 billing authorities by percentage rise, it ranks 117.
How to read this Band D change
This is a change in the published Band D charge, not advice about household bills. Precepts, discounts, and banding decide the amount you pay.
See UK year-on-year changesCentral Bedfordshire bands A-H schedule
Per-band charge 2026
Central Bedfordshire's nearest Band D charges nationwide
Central Bedfordshire is 87th of 350 on the national Band D list at £2,516.16. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Rossendale, Mole Valley, Cheshire West and Chester, Coventry, then Blackpool, Wyre Forest. The six closest published 2026-27 rates, led by Rossendale, ignore geography on purpose, so a map neighbour is not mistaken for a charge twin. Read the difference column as a pound gap; cross-check the East of England ranking further down when you care about local neighbours, and the stock-weighted average when you care what most of Central Bedfordshire's 135,100 dwellings actually pay. Closest published housing-stock shapes include Arun, Cherwell, Wiltshire, Canterbury.
| Council | Band D | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Rossendale | £2,519.97 | +£3.81 |
| Mole Valley | £2,519.86 | +£3.70 |
| Cheshire West and Chester | £2,517.33 | +£1.17 |
| Coventry | £2,516.72 | +£0.56 |
| Blackpool | £2,513.22 | −£2.94 |
| Wyre Forest | £2,512.47 | −£3.69 |
Band A–H charge table (2026/2027)
| Band | Annual Charge | Monthly | Sole occupant (−25%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | £1,677.44 | £167.74 | £1,258.08 |
| B | £1,957.01 | £195.70 | £1,467.76 |
| C | £2,236.59 | £223.66 | £1,677.44 |
| D | £2,516.16 | £251.62 | £1,887.12 |
| E | £3,075.31 | £307.53 | £2,306.48 |
| F | £3,634.45 | £363.45 | £2,725.84 |
| G | £4,193.60 | £419.36 | £3,145.20 |
| H | £5,032.32 | £503.23 | £3,774.24 |
England 1991 valuation ranges (Band A–H)
- Band A: Up to £40,000 (1991 valuation)
- Band B: £40,001 to £52,000
- Band C: £52,001 to £68,000
- Band D: £68,001 to £88,000 (reference band)
- Band E: £88,001 to £120,000
- Band F: £120,001 to £160,000
- Band G: £160,001 to £320,000
- Band H: Over £320,000
Source: MHCLG, Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026-27 (area Band D) + statutory England band ratios documented in our methodology. Monthly figure is the annual charge / 10 (most councils use 10 monthly instalments). The sole-occupant column applies the statutory 25% single-person discount, payable when only one adult lives in the property.
What Central Bedfordshire's 135,100 properties actually pay
Central Bedfordshire's housing stock peaks below the reference point, in Band C, which covers 36,960 of 135,100 dwellings (27.4%). A Band C home is charged at eight-ninths of the Band D rate, which is why the typical bill here lands under the headline figure. It takes 3 bands — B, C, D — to cover half the stock, a wider spread than most authorities show. 54.8% of dwellings on the England valuation list here are banded below D.
Weighting each band's statutory charge by the number of properties in it gives a stock-weighted average of £2,500.27 per dwelling, £15.89 (0.6%) below the £2,516.16 Band D headline, because most of the stock sits in bands charged at less than the Band D rate. On that measure Central Bedfordshire is 70th of 318 authorities with published stock counts, against a £2,269.00 average. That places Central Bedfordshire 11th of the 45 billing authorities in East of England, above the regional median of £2,255.65.
How to read this stock pattern
Central Bedfordshire's largest property group sits in the lower half of the valuation ladder rather than at the Band D reference used in national tables. Its modal Band C charge is eight-ninths of the Band D rate, and 54.8% of the published stock lies below D. The headline alone does not show how often each band occurs. The stock-weighted amount applies the full distribution for an area-level comparison, while remaining an average rather than a household quotation.
Central Bedfordshire has a broad valuation-band profile: the largest 3 groups are needed before the cumulative share passes half of the stock. No single band dominates the local picture, which makes a one-band headline especially incomplete. The weighted result is useful for comparing this authority with peers, but the spread across 8 published bands matters just as much. A broad mix also means the area-level mean is less representative of any one household than it is in a concentrated council.
Central Bedfordshire sits in the upper quarter of East of England on the stock-weighted ordering, above the regional median of £2,255.65. This narrows the comparison from a UK rank to authorities facing the same broad regional context, while still correcting each one for its different band mix. The placement says the council's average published stock is relatively costly within that peer set; it does not convert the mean into an individual household charge.
Closest housing-stock shape: Warwick
Warwick is the closest full-distribution match for Central Bedfordshire. The profiles are close rather than identical: 3.5% of dwellings would need to shift between valuation bands for their published shares to align. The comparison therefore tests the whole ladder, not just the largest band.
Four largest band differences
- The largest separation is an upper-band difference at Band G. Warwick records 6.8% of dwellings there, compared with 4.2% in Central Bedfordshire, so the peer carries more of its stock at that higher rung.
- A smaller distinction is lower on the ladder at Band A: Central Bedfordshire has 8.4% of dwellings there, against 7.2% in Warwick. That extra lower-band weight pulls its stock profile away from the peer.
- A smaller distinction appears in the upper part of the ladder at Band E. Central Bedfordshire places 13.2% of dwellings there versus 12.2% for Warwick, giving this profile the heavier upper-band tail at that point.
- A smaller distinction is lower on the ladder at Band B: Central Bedfordshire has 19.0% of dwellings there, against 18.1% in Warwick. That extra lower-band weight pulls its stock profile away from the peer.
How the wider profile compares
Central Bedfordshire has the stronger combined lower-band tilt: Bands A to C account for 2.3% more of its stock than they do in Warwick. The nearest match still leaves that bottom-of-ladder difference visible.
Warwick carries the heavier upper tail across Bands E and above, exceeding Central Bedfordshire's combined share there by 2.5%. Total-variation distance counts those absolute band gaps without assuming they offset the lower-band pattern.
Both profiles peak in Band C, so the peer match agrees on the most common valuation group as well as the full-distribution distance. The band-by-band gaps above show why a shared mode does not make the profiles interchangeable.
Band D is the most stable point in the comparison, with shares of 19.9% and 19.7%. Reading that near-match beside the largest gaps prevents the peer label from hiding where the two published distributions actually agree.
Show every band direction
- Band A leans toward Central Bedfordshire
- Band B leans toward Central Bedfordshire
- Band C is closely balanced
- Band D is closely balanced
- Band E leans toward Central Bedfordshire
- Band F leans toward Warwick
- Band G leans toward Warwick
- Band H is closely balanced
This sequence is read from the lowest published band to the highest.
Other close England matches for Central Bedfordshire: Arun (4.3% redistribution distance); Cherwell (4.3% redistribution distance); Wiltshire (4.9% redistribution distance); Canterbury (5.1% redistribution distance). Ranked across every published band in the England valuation system, this shortlist shows whether Warwick stands alone or sits in a cluster of similarly shaped authorities.
| Band | Properties | Share of stock | Annual charge |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 11,330 | 8.4% | £1,677.44 |
| B | 25,720 | 19.0% | £1,957.01 |
| C | 36,960 | 27.4% | £2,236.59 |
| D | 26,860 | 19.9% | £2,516.16 |
| E | 17,860 | 13.2% | £3,075.31 |
| F | 10,230 | 7.6% | £3,634.45 |
| G | 5,730 | 4.2% | £4,193.60 |
| H | 410 | 0.3% | £5,032.32 |
Property-stock source, rounding and weighting notes
Property counts: VOA, Council Tax: stock of properties 2025 (Table CTSOP1.0_SUP, as at 9 September 2025), Open Government Licence v3.0. Counts are published rounded to the nearest 10, so shares are approximate and may not sum to exactly 100%. The stock-weighted average is our calculation: each band's 2026/2027 charge multiplied by its property count, divided by the total. It is a mean across the whole stock, not a bill any individual household receives.
Authorities charging a similar average across their stock
These are the closest authorities to Central Bedfordshire on the stock-weighted measure, which is a different ordering from the Band D neighbours above because it accounts for how each area's properties are banded.
- Conwy£2,509.71
- Herefordshire£2,509.52
- Malvern Hills£2,502.10
- New Forest£2,501.41
- North Hertfordshire£2,494.60
Central Bedfordshire's nearest year-on-year movers
Central Bedfordshire moved Band D from £2,394.14 to £2,516.16 (+5.10%, competition rank 117th of 350). The closest published movements sit with Bridgend, Bradford, Hertsmere.
- Bridgend5.11%
- Bradford5.10%
- Hertsmere5.09%
- Torbay5.09%
- Welwyn Hatfield5.09%
- West Devon5.09%
How Central Bedfordshire compares in East of England
Among the 45 billing authorities in East of England, Central Bedfordshire's 2026-27 Band D charge of £2,516.16 ranks 4th of 45, higher than 91% of them (£125.16 above the East of England average of £2,391.00). Its nearest-charged neighbours in the region:
Regional high-charge outlier: this authority sits in the costliest fifth of East of England.
| Region rank | Council | Band D 2026-27 |
|---|---|---|
| 2nd | Fenland | £2,537.74 |
| 3rd | South Cambridgeshire | £2,536.25 |
| 4th | Central Bedfordshire | £2,516.16 |
| 5th | Norwich | £2,503.44 |
| 6th | East Cambridgeshire | £2,485.18 |
Regional rank out of 45 East of England billing authorities by 2026-27 Band D charge (1 = dearest). See the full UK ranking or the complete directory.
Questions answered from Central Bedfordshire's data
These answers use Central Bedfordshire's £2,516.16 Band D rate, the England statutory multipliers, and the VOA stock mix (modal Band C, 54.8% below D).
Is Central Bedfordshire Council Tax above the UK average?
Central Bedfordshire's 2026-27 Band D rate is £2,516.16, 7.7% above the UK average of £2,337.00. It has competition rank 87th of 350, with equal charges sharing a rank. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Rossendale, Mole Valley, Cheshire West and Chester, Coventry, then Blackpool, Wyre Forest.
Which councils have charges closest to Central Bedfordshire?
The closest published Band D rates are Rossendale (£2,519.97), Mole Valley (£2,519.86), Cheshire West and Chester (£2,517.33), Coventry (£2,516.72), Blackpool (£2,513.22), Wyre Forest (£2,512.47). The comparison table above shows the six nearest authorities and the exact difference from Central Bedfordshire.
What is the average Council Tax bill in Central Bedfordshire?
Across Central Bedfordshire's 135,100 domestic properties, the stock-weighted average charge is £2,500.27 for 2026-27. That is £15.89 below the £2,516.16 Band D rate, because the most common band here is Band C (27.4% of the stock) and 54.8% of dwellings are banded below D. Closest published housing-stock shapes include Arun, Cherwell, Wiltshire, Canterbury. Property counts are from the VOA 2025 stock release; the weighting is our calculation.
How did Central Bedfordshire Council Tax change for 2026-27?
Band D moved from £2,394.14 to £2,516.16, a 5.10% rise. Its competition rank by annual increase is 117th of 350; the closest movements include Bridgend, Bradford, Hertsmere.
Advice boundary for Central Bedfordshire
They are not personalised advice - expand a question for the figure that matches the tables above for the 2026-27 vintage, then follow the methodology or gov.uk links for a binding bill on a specific property.
Council Tax figure, precept and liability disclaimer
Council Tax charges shown on this page are derived from the published England Band D dataset and statutory England band ratios. They are intended as informational guidance, not as a personalised tax statement or legal advice. Your actual bill depends on your property's assigned band and on any discounts or exemptions that apply to your household. Central Bedfordshire is unitary, so this figure combines its own charge (including adult social care) with police and fire precepts where separate, plus any average parish precept. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Rossendale, Mole Valley, Cheshire West and Chester, Coventry, then Blackpool, Wyre Forest. Closest published housing-stock shapes include Arun, Cherwell, Wiltshire, Canterbury. For a binding figure consult your Central Bedfordshire Council Tax bill or the official gov.uk Council Tax service. Figures published in 2026 reflect the 2026/2027 financial year only.
UK tools, directories and band challenge
- Compare councils side-by-side →
- Browse all UK councils →
- Band D national rollup →
- Challenge your band guide →
Charges shown for Central Bedfordshire are the area Band D and statutory band multiples with no county tier. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Rossendale, Mole Valley, Cheshire West and Chester, Coventry, then Blackpool, Wyre Forest.