Lichfield Council Tax 2026

How to read this stock pattern

Lichfield'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 59.8% 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.

Lichfield 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.

Lichfield occupies the middle half of the West Midlands stock-weighted distribution, above its £2,132.00 median. The regional result gives more context than a UK-wide rank without turning the difference into a superlative. It also shows that the council's band mix, not only its published Band D rate, determines where it sits among nearby authorities. The remaining distance from the median is an area-level comparison rather than a household saving or premium.

Closest housing-stock shape: South Staffordshire

South Staffordshire is an exceptionally close stock-shape match for Lichfield: moving 2.8% of dwellings between valuation bands would make the two published distributions align. That is a stricter comparison than sharing a modal band, because all published bands contribute to the distance.

Four largest band differences

• The largest separation sits at lower Band A, where South Staffordshire holds 14.0% of its stock and Lichfield holds 12.2%. The peer is more bottom-weighted at this rung of the valuation list.
• A smaller distinction is an upper-band difference at Band E. South Staffordshire records 11.3% of dwellings there, compared with 10.4% in Lichfield, so the peer carries more of its stock at that higher rung.
• A smaller distinction appears in the upper part of the ladder at Band F. Lichfield places 8.2% of dwellings there versus 7.3% for South Staffordshire, giving this profile the heavier upper-band tail at that point.
• A smaller distinction is lower on the ladder at Band C: Lichfield has 25.3% of dwellings there, against 24.5% in South Staffordshire. That extra lower-band weight pulls its stock profile away from the peer.

How the wider profile compares

Show every band direction

• Band A leans toward South Staffordshire
• Band B is closely balanced
• Band C leans toward Lichfield
• Band D is closely balanced
• Band E leans toward South Staffordshire
• Band F leans toward Lichfield
• Band G is closely balanced
• Band H is closely balanced

This sequence is read from the lowest published band to the highest.

Other close England matches for Lichfield: Bedford (3.3% redistribution distance); Bath & North East Somerset (3.7% redistribution distance); Stroud (4.3% redistribution distance); Wiltshire (5.6% redistribution distance). Ranked across every published band in the England valuation system, this shortlist shows whether South Staffordshire stands alone or sits in a cluster of similarly shaped authorities.