Melton Council Tax 2026

How to read this stock pattern

Melton'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 B charge is seven-ninths of the Band D rate, and 62.0% 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.

Melton 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.

Melton sits in the upper quarter of East Midlands on the stock-weighted ordering, above the regional median of £2,103.94. 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: Babergh

Babergh is the nearest available full-distribution peer for Melton, although the match is not tight. Aligning the two published profiles would require 6.4% of dwellings to move between valuation bands. Even the closest council therefore has a materially different housing-stock shape.

Four largest band differences

• The largest separation sits at lower Band C, where Babergh holds 21.0% of its stock and Melton holds 16.3%. The peer is more bottom-weighted at this rung of the valuation list.
• Another material separation is lower on the ladder at Band B: Melton has 31.0% of dwellings there, against 28.0% in Babergh. That extra lower-band weight pulls its stock profile away from the peer.
• Another material separation is lower on the ladder at Band A: Melton has 14.6% of dwellings there, against 11.8% in Babergh. That extra lower-band weight pulls its stock profile away from the peer.
• A smaller distinction is at reference Band D: its share is 16.2% in Melton and 17.6% in Babergh. The familiar benchmark represents a larger slice of the peer's housing stock.

How the wider profile compares

Show every band direction

• Band A leans toward Melton
• Band B leans toward Melton
• Band C leans toward Babergh
• Band D leans toward Babergh
• Band E is closely balanced
• Band F is closely balanced
• 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 Melton: North West Leicestershire (7.0% redistribution distance); Somerset (7.6% redistribution distance); Hinckley & Bosworth (8.1% redistribution distance); Mid Suffolk (8.1% redistribution distance). Ranked across every published band in the England valuation system, this shortlist shows whether Babergh stands alone or sits in a cluster of similarly shaped authorities.