Welwyn Hatfield Council Tax 2026
East of England, England · 50,950 domestic properties
According to MHCLG, Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026-27, Welwyn Hatfield's Band D Council Tax is £2,452.26 for 2026-27, the 143rd highest of 350 UK billing authorities (higher than 59% of them) and 5% above the UK average of £2,337.00. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Worthing, Blackburn with Darwen, Cheshire East, East Hertfordshire, then Malvern Hills, North Hertfordshire. Closest published housing-stock shapes include West Oxfordshire, West Berkshire, Vale of White Horse, Croydon.
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 Worthing, Blackburn with Darwen, Cheshire East, East Hertfordshire, then Malvern Hills, North Hertfordshire. See our methodology page for the full source-to-figure lineage.
- £2,452.26
- Band D charge · 2026 statutory
- Above the UK average
- +5.09%
- year-on-year vs £2,333.46
- Middle-half rise
- +4.9%
- vs UK avg £2,337.00
- £4,904.52
- Band H · 18/9 of Band D
Nearest published Band D rates sit with Worthing, Blackburn with Darwen, Cheshire East, East Hertfordshire, then Malvern Hills, North Hertfordshire. Closest published housing-stock shapes include West Oxfordshire, West Berkshire, Vale of White Horse, Croydon. Open Worthing for the closest published Band D on the same vintage.
Welwyn Hatfield · year-on-year Band D
What changed for Welwyn Hatfield
Welwyn Hatfield's Band D Council Tax rose from £2,333.46 (2025-26) to £2,452.26 (2026-27). Among 350 billing authorities by percentage rise, it ranks 119.
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 changesWelwyn Hatfield bands A-H schedule
Per-band charge 2026
Welwyn Hatfield's nearest Band D charges nationwide
Welwyn Hatfield is 143rd of 350 on the national Band D list at £2,452.26. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Worthing, Blackburn with Darwen, Cheshire East, East Hertfordshire, then Malvern Hills, North Hertfordshire. The six closest published 2026-27 rates, led by Worthing, 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 Welwyn Hatfield's 50,950 dwellings actually pay. Closest published housing-stock shapes include West Oxfordshire, West Berkshire, Vale of White Horse, Croydon.
| Council | Band D | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Worthing | £2,456.13 | +£3.87 |
| Blackburn with Darwen | £2,455.27 | +£3.01 |
| Cheshire East | £2,454.87 | +£2.61 |
| East Hertfordshire | £2,454.78 | +£2.52 |
| Malvern Hills | £2,450.92 | −£1.34 |
| North Hertfordshire | £2,448.52 | −£3.74 |
Band A–H charge table (2026/2027)
| Band | Annual Charge | Monthly | Sole occupant (−25%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | £1,634.84 | £163.48 | £1,226.13 |
| B | £1,907.31 | £190.73 | £1,430.48 |
| C | £2,179.79 | £217.98 | £1,634.84 |
| D | £2,452.26 | £245.23 | £1,839.20 |
| E | £2,997.21 | £299.72 | £2,247.91 |
| F | £3,542.15 | £354.22 | £2,656.61 |
| G | £4,087.10 | £408.71 | £3,065.33 |
| H | £4,904.52 | £490.45 | £3,678.39 |
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 Welwyn Hatfield's 50,950 properties actually pay
Welwyn Hatfield's housing stock peaks below the reference point, in Band C, which covers 16,390 of 50,950 dwellings (32.2%). 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. Bands C and D between them account for 56.9% of the stock. 46.1% 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 £2,601.52 per dwelling, £149.26 (6.1%) above the £2,452.26 Band D headline. On that measure Welwyn Hatfield is 48th of 318 authorities with published stock counts, against a £2,269.00 average. That places Welwyn Hatfield 7th of the 45 billing authorities in East of England, above the regional median of £2,255.65.
How to read this stock pattern
Welwyn Hatfield'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 46.1% 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.
This is a two-band centre rather than a single-band market. Bands C and D together contain 56.9% of dwellings, so neither band should be presented as a complete account of the area. The stock-weighted result combines both groups and the smaller tails into one comparable measure. The table shows where that mean comes from and prevents the distribution being flattened into an overconfident "typical property" claim.
Welwyn Hatfield 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: Dacorum
Dacorum is the closest full-distribution match for Welwyn Hatfield. The profiles are close rather than identical: 3.6% 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 E. Dacorum records 13.9% of dwellings there, compared with 11.0% in Welwyn Hatfield, so the peer carries more of its stock at that higher rung.
- A smaller distinction is lower on the ladder at Band C: Welwyn Hatfield has 32.2% of dwellings there, against 30.6% in Dacorum. That extra lower-band weight pulls its stock profile away from the peer.
- A smaller distinction falls on the reference band itself. Band D contains 24.7% of Welwyn Hatfield's stock but 23.9% of Dacorum's, so the national headline describes more of the local distribution here.
- A smaller distinction sits at lower Band B, where Dacorum holds 12.2% of its stock and Welwyn Hatfield holds 11.5%. The peer is more bottom-weighted at this rung of the valuation list.
How the wider profile compares
Welwyn Hatfield has the stronger combined lower-band tilt: Bands A to C account for 1.5% more of its stock than they do in Dacorum. The nearest match still leaves that bottom-of-ladder difference visible.
Dacorum carries the heavier upper tail across Bands E and above, exceeding Welwyn Hatfield's combined share there by 2.4%. 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 G is the most stable point in the comparison, with shares of 7.8% and 7.7%. 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 Welwyn Hatfield
- Band B leans toward Dacorum
- Band C leans toward Welwyn Hatfield
- Band D leans toward Welwyn Hatfield
- Band E leans toward Dacorum
- 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 Welwyn Hatfield: West Oxfordshire (5.7% redistribution distance); West Berkshire (6.6% redistribution distance); Vale of White Horse (7.0% redistribution distance); Croydon (7.1% redistribution distance). Ranked across every published band in the England valuation system, this shortlist shows whether Dacorum stands alone or sits in a cluster of similarly shaped authorities.
| Band | Properties | Share of stock | Annual charge |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 1,250 | 2.5% | £1,634.84 |
| B | 5,870 | 11.5% | £1,907.31 |
| C | 16,390 | 32.2% | £2,179.79 |
| D | 12,610 | 24.7% | £2,452.26 |
| E | 5,610 | 11.0% | £2,997.21 |
| F | 4,500 | 8.8% | £3,542.15 |
| G | 3,970 | 7.8% | £4,087.10 |
| H | 750 | 1.5% | £4,904.52 |
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 Welwyn Hatfield 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.
- West Devon£2,617.03
- Cotswold£2,611.02
- Maidstone£2,595.64
- Winchester£2,590.44
- Brentwood£2,587.80
Welwyn Hatfield's nearest year-on-year movers
Welwyn Hatfield moved Band D from £2,333.46 to £2,452.26 (+5.09%, competition rank 119th of 350). The closest published movements sit with Bradford, Central Bedfordshire, Hertsmere.
- Bradford5.10%
- Central Bedfordshire5.10%
- Hertsmere5.09%
- Torbay5.09%
- West Devon5.09%
- Bracknell Forest5.08%
How Welwyn Hatfield compares in East of England
Among the 45 billing authorities in East of England, Welwyn Hatfield's 2026-27 Band D charge of £2,452.26 ranks 13th of 45, higher than 71% of them (£61.26 above the East of England average of £2,391.00). Its nearest-charged neighbours in the region:
| Region rank | Council | Band D 2026-27 |
|---|---|---|
| 11th | North Norfolk | £2,459.93 |
| 12th | East Hertfordshire | £2,454.78 |
| 13th | Welwyn Hatfield | £2,452.26 |
| 14th | North Hertfordshire | £2,448.52 |
| 15th | Watford | £2,446.70 |
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 Welwyn Hatfield's data
These answers use Welwyn Hatfield's £2,452.26 Band D rate, the England statutory multipliers, and the VOA stock mix (modal Band C, 46.1% below D).
Is Welwyn Hatfield Council Tax above the UK average?
Welwyn Hatfield's 2026-27 Band D rate is £2,452.26, 4.9% above the UK average of £2,337.00. It has competition rank 143rd of 350, with equal charges sharing a rank. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Worthing, Blackburn with Darwen, Cheshire East, East Hertfordshire, then Malvern Hills, North Hertfordshire.
Which councils have charges closest to Welwyn Hatfield?
The closest published Band D rates are Worthing (£2,456.13), Blackburn with Darwen (£2,455.27), Cheshire East (£2,454.87), East Hertfordshire (£2,454.78), Malvern Hills (£2,450.92), North Hertfordshire (£2,448.52). The comparison table above shows the six nearest authorities and the exact difference from Welwyn Hatfield.
What is the average Council Tax bill in Welwyn Hatfield?
Across Welwyn Hatfield's 50,950 domestic properties, the stock-weighted average charge is £2,601.52 for 2026-27. That is £149.26 above the £2,452.26 Band D rate, because the most common band here is Band C (32.2% of the stock) and 46.1% of dwellings are banded below D. Closest published housing-stock shapes include West Oxfordshire, West Berkshire, Vale of White Horse, Croydon. Property counts are from the VOA 2025 stock release; the weighting is our calculation.
How did Welwyn Hatfield Council Tax change for 2026-27?
Band D moved from £2,333.46 to £2,452.26, a 5.09% rise. Its competition rank by annual increase is 119th of 350; the closest movements include Bradford, Central Bedfordshire, Hertsmere.
Advice boundary for Welwyn Hatfield
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. This area Band D is a two-tier total for Welwyn Hatfield: district charge plus county, police, fire where separate, and the average parish precept across the district. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Worthing, Blackburn with Darwen, Cheshire East, East Hertfordshire, then Malvern Hills, North Hertfordshire. Closest published housing-stock shapes include West Oxfordshire, West Berkshire, Vale of White Horse, Croydon. For a binding figure consult your Welwyn Hatfield 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 Welwyn Hatfield are the area Band D and statutory band multiples, already including county, police, fire and average parish precepts where they apply. Nearest published Band D rates sit with Worthing, Blackburn with Darwen, Cheshire East, East Hertfordshire, then Malvern Hills, North Hertfordshire.