South Cambridgeshire Council Tax 2026

How to read this stock pattern

South Cambridgeshire'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 45.8% 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.

South Cambridgeshire 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.

South Cambridgeshire 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: Vale of White Horse

Vale of White Horse is the closest full-distribution match for South Cambridgeshire. The profiles are close rather than identical: 4.4% 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 at reference Band D: its share is 18.6% in South Cambridgeshire and 21.9% in Vale of White Horse. The familiar benchmark represents a larger slice of the peer's housing stock.
• A smaller distinction appears in the upper part of the ladder at Band F. South Cambridgeshire places 11.7% of dwellings there versus 10.2% for Vale of White Horse, giving this profile the heavier upper-band tail at that point.
• A smaller distinction is lower on the ladder at Band B: South Cambridgeshire has 11.7% of dwellings there, against 10.6% in Vale of White Horse. That extra lower-band weight pulls its stock profile away from the peer.
• A smaller distinction is an upper-band difference at Band G. Vale of White Horse records 7.5% of dwellings there, compared with 6.6% in South Cambridgeshire, so the peer carries more of its stock at that higher rung.

How the wider profile compares

Show every band direction

• Band A leans toward South Cambridgeshire
• Band B leans toward South Cambridgeshire
• Band C is closely balanced
• Band D leans toward Vale of White Horse
• Band E leans toward South Cambridgeshire
• Band F leans toward South Cambridgeshire
• Band G leans toward Vale of White Horse
• Band H is closely balanced

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

Other close England matches for South Cambridgeshire: Maldon (5.7% redistribution distance); Stratford-on-Avon (6.2% redistribution distance); Bracknell Forest (6.4% redistribution distance); West Oxfordshire (6.7% redistribution distance). Ranked across every published band in the England valuation system, this shortlist shows whether Vale of White Horse stands alone or sits in a cluster of similarly shaped authorities.