Southend-on-Sea Council Tax 2026
East of England, England · 83,330 domestic properties
Southend-on-Sea Band D is £2,265.17 for 2026-27, the 273rd highest of 350 UK billing authorities (3% below the UK average of £2,337.00).
According to MHCLG, Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026-27, Southend-on-Sea's published Band D Council Tax is £2,265.17 for 2026-27 (UNDER). Competition rank is 273rd of 350 (higher than 22% of authorities).
- £2,265.17 Band D · UNDER
- 273rd of 350 authorities
- -3.1% vs UK average
According to MHCLG, Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026-27, Southend-on-Sea's Band D Council Tax is £2,265.17 for 2026-27 (UNDER), the 273rd highest of 350 UK billing authorities (higher than 22% of them) and 3% below the UK average of £2,337.00.
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. See our methodology page for the full source-to-figure lineage.
- £2,265.17
- Band D charge · 2026 statutory
- Below the UK average
- +5.13%
- year-on-year vs £2,154.65
- Middle-half rise
- -3.1%
- vs UK avg £2,337.00
- £4,530.34
- Band H · 18/9 of Band D
Southend-on-Sea · year-on-year Band D
What changed for Southend-on-Sea
Southend-on-Sea's Band D Council Tax rose from £2,154.65 (2025-26) to £2,265.17 (2026-27). Among 350 billing authorities by percentage rise, it ranks 106.
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 changesMHCLG/VOA position brief
Southend-on-Sea Band D posture in the 2026-27 corpus
Entity-varying stamps from the joined MHCLG, Scottish CTAS and StatsWales extract plus VOA CTSOP stock counts, ABS(charge) peers, not map neighbours.
- £2,265.17 Published Band D 2026-27 UNDER
- 273rd of 350 UK authorities 22nd percentile
- +5.1% Year-on-year Band D STEEP
- 83,330 VOA dwellings on list LOWBAND
Band D charge neighbourhood
Published 2026-27 Band D among the nearest pound-gap peers (snapshot 2026-10-02).
Derived position reading
What the Southend-on-Sea Band D figure shows
The published Band D charge of £2,265.17 places Southend-on-Sea 273rd out of 350 UK billing authorities when ordered from the highest charge down. That position is derived from the full authority table, rather than from a single quoted comparison. It is 3.1% below the simple UK average of £2,337.00, while the percentile shows that 22% of the recorded authorities have a lower Band D charge.
The more useful local comparison is East of England. Here, Southend-on-Sea ranks 43rd among 45 billing authorities, against a regional average of £2,391.00. The table of nearby authorities therefore compares published charges in the same geography, not property values or the level of service a household receives. Equal Band D charges share a position, so the ranking does not invent a difference where the underlying values match.
Band D is a statutory reference point, not a bill for every household. Charges for the other bands are calculated from the applicable national ratios, and discounts or exemptions can change an individual bill. This page is best used to understand the current published schedule and how this authority sits within the recorded 2026-27 council-tax corpus.
Southend-on-Sea bands A-H schedule
Per-band charge 2026
Band A–H charge table (2026/2027)
| Band | Annual Charge | Monthly | Sole occupant (−25%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | £1,510.11 | £151.01 | £1,132.58 |
| B | £1,761.80 | £176.18 | £1,321.35 |
| C | £2,013.48 | £201.35 | £1,510.11 |
| D | £2,265.17 | £226.52 | £1,698.88 |
| E | £2,768.54 | £276.85 | £2,076.40 |
| F | £3,271.91 | £327.19 | £2,453.93 |
| G | £3,775.28 | £377.53 | £2,831.46 |
| H | £4,530.34 | £453.03 | £3,397.76 |
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 Southend-on-Sea's 83,330 properties actually pay
Southend-on-Sea's housing stock peaks below the reference point, in Band C, which covers 24,770 of 83,330 dwellings (29.7%). 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. VOA CTSOP stamp LOWBAND: 69.8% of dwellings here are banded below D.
Stock-weighted average £2,056.25 is £208.92 (9.2%) below Band D £2,265.17 - 235th of 318 authorities with published counts (corpus mean £2,269.00). That places Southend-on-Sea 39th of the 45 billing authorities in East of England, below the regional median of £2,255.65.
Southend-on-Sea property mix · A–C / D / E–H · LOWBAND
Sums to 83,330 VOA dwellings, band mix, not a household bill.
Closest housing-stock shape: Brighton & Hove
Brighton & Hove is the closest full-distribution match for Southend-on-Sea. The profiles are close rather than identical: 5.0% 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 lower on the ladder at Band C: Southend-on-Sea has 29.7% of dwellings there, against 26.1% in Brighton & Hove. That extra lower-band weight pulls its stock profile away from the peer.
- Another material separation sits at lower Band B, where Brighton & Hove holds 22.4% of its stock and Southend-on-Sea holds 19.4%. The peer is more bottom-weighted at this rung of the valuation list.
- A smaller distinction sits at lower Band A, where Brighton & Hove holds 22.1% of its stock and Southend-on-Sea holds 20.6%. The peer is more bottom-weighted at this rung of the valuation list.
- A smaller distinction appears in the upper part of the ladder at Band F. Southend-on-Sea places 4.5% of dwellings there versus 3.5% for Brighton & Hove, giving this profile the heavier upper-band tail at that point.
Other close England matches for Southend-on-Sea: Tendring (5.3% redistribution distance); Trafford (5.7% redistribution distance); Torbay (6.7% redistribution distance); Wyre (7.1% redistribution distance).
| Band | Properties | Share of stock | Annual charge |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 17,170 | 20.6% | £1,510.11 |
| B | 16,190 | 19.4% | £1,761.80 |
| C | 24,770 | 29.7% | £2,013.48 |
| D | 12,900 | 15.5% | £2,265.17 |
| E | 6,820 | 8.2% | £2,768.54 |
| F | 3,710 | 4.5% | £3,271.91 |
| G | 1,640 | 2.0% | £3,775.28 |
| H | 130 | 0.2% | £4,530.34 |
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
Closest to Southend-on-Sea on stock-weighted charge (LOWBAND) - a different ordering from Band D twins.
- Rossendale£2,058.21
- Amber Valley£2,057.83
- Merthyr Tydfil£2,056.16
- Gosport£2,055.21
- Salford£2,053.05
Southend-on-Sea's nearest year-on-year movers · STEEP
Southend-on-Sea moved Band D from £2,154.65 to £2,265.17 (+5.13%, STEEP; competition rank 106th of 350). Closest published movements: Bedford, Eastleigh, Leeds.
- Bedford5.14%
- Eastleigh5.14%
- Leeds5.13%
- Telford and the Wrekin5.13%
- Calderdale5.12%
- Dorset Council5.12%
How Southend-on-Sea compares in East of England
Among the 45 billing authorities in East of England, Southend-on-Sea's 2026-27 Band D charge of £2,265.17 ranks 43rd of 45, higher than 4% of them (£125.83 below the East of England average of £2,391.00). Its nearest-charged neighbours in the region:
Regional low-charge outlier: this authority sits in the least costly fifth of East of England.
| Region rank | Council | Band D 2026-27 |
|---|---|---|
| 41st | Epping Forest | £2,277.21 |
| 42nd | Tendring | £2,269.63 |
| 43rd | Southend-on-Sea | £2,265.17 |
| 44th | Brentwood | £2,258.14 |
| 45th | Thurrock | £2,254.68 |
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.
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. Southend-on-Sea 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. For a binding figure consult your Southend-on-Sea Council Tax bill or the official gov.uk Council Tax service. Figures published in 2026 reflect the 2026/2027 financial year only.
UK directories, Band D rollup and band challenge
Charges shown for Southend-on-Sea are the area Band D and statutory band multiples with no county tier.