West Berkshire Council Tax 2026
South East, England · 72,320 domestic properties
West Berkshire Band D is £2,505.37 for 2026-27, the 94th highest of 350 UK billing authorities (7% above the UK average of £2,337.00).
According to MHCLG, Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026-27, West Berkshire's published Band D Council Tax is £2,505.37 for 2026-27 (OVER). Competition rank is 94th of 350 (higher than 73% of authorities).
- £2,505.37 Band D · OVER
- 94th of 350 authorities
- +7.2% vs UK average
According to MHCLG, Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026-27, West Berkshire's Band D Council Tax is £2,505.37 for 2026-27 (OVER), the 94th highest of 350 UK billing authorities (higher than 73% of them) and 7% above 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.
- £2,505.37
- Band D charge · 2026 statutory
- Above the UK average
- +5.14%
- year-on-year vs £2,382.84
- Middle-half rise
- +7.2%
- vs UK avg £2,337.00
- £5,010.74
- Band H · 18/9 of Band D
West Berkshire · year-on-year Band D
What changed for West Berkshire
West Berkshire's Band D Council Tax rose from £2,382.84 (2025-26) to £2,505.37 (2026-27). Among 350 billing authorities by percentage rise, it ranks 102.
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
West Berkshire 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.
- £2,505.37 Published Band D 2026-27 OVER
- 94th of 350 UK authorities 73rd percentile
- +5.1% Year-on-year Band D STEEP
- 72,320 VOA dwellings on list DHEAVY
Band D charge neighbourhood
Published 2026-27 Band D among the nearest pound-gap peers (snapshot 2026-10-02).
Derived position reading
What the West Berkshire Band D figure shows
The published Band D charge of £2,505.37 places West Berkshire 94th 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 7.2% above the simple UK average of £2,337.00, while the percentile shows that 73% of the recorded authorities have a lower Band D charge.
The more useful local comparison is South East. Here, West Berkshire ranks 28th among 64 billing authorities, against a regional average of £2,475.00. 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.
West Berkshire bands A-H schedule
Per-band charge 2026
Band A–H charge table (2026/2027)
| Band | Annual Charge | Monthly | Sole occupant (−25%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | £1,670.25 | £167.03 | £1,252.69 |
| B | £1,948.62 | £194.86 | £1,461.47 |
| C | £2,227.00 | £222.70 | £1,670.25 |
| D | £2,505.37 | £250.54 | £1,879.03 |
| E | £3,062.12 | £306.21 | £2,296.59 |
| F | £3,618.87 | £361.89 | £2,714.15 |
| G | £4,175.62 | £417.56 | £3,131.72 |
| H | £5,010.74 | £501.07 | £3,758.06 |
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 West Berkshire's 72,320 properties actually pay
West Berkshire's housing stock peaks below the reference point, in Band C, which covers 20,550 of 72,320 dwellings (28.4%). 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 DHEAVY: 42.4% of dwellings here are banded below D.
Stock-weighted average £2,672.16 is £166.79 (6.7%) above Band D £2,505.37 - 40th of 318 authorities with published counts (corpus mean £2,269.00). That places West Berkshire 27th of the 64 billing authorities in South East, above the regional median of £2,511.00.
West Berkshire property mix · A–C / D / E–H · DHEAVY
Sums to 72,320 VOA dwellings, band mix, not a household bill.
Closest housing-stock shape: Vale of White Horse
Vale of White Horse is the closest full-distribution match for West Berkshire. The profiles are close rather than identical: 4.1% 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 falls on the reference band itself. Band D contains 24.7% of West Berkshire's stock but 21.9% of Vale of White Horse's, so the national headline describes more of the local distribution here.
- A smaller distinction sits at lower Band C, where Vale of White Horse holds 30.0% of its stock and West Berkshire holds 28.4%. The peer is more bottom-weighted at this rung of the valuation list.
- A smaller distinction is an upper-band difference at Band E. Vale of White Horse records 16.1% of dwellings there, compared with 15.2% in West Berkshire, so the peer carries more of its stock at that higher rung.
- A smaller distinction is lower on the ladder at Band A: West Berkshire has 3.8% of dwellings there, against 2.9% in Vale of White Horse. That extra lower-band weight pulls its stock profile away from the peer.
Other close England matches for West Berkshire: Tonbridge & Malling (4.5% redistribution distance); South Oxfordshire (4.6% redistribution distance); Maidstone (5.4% redistribution distance); Dacorum (5.4% redistribution distance).
| Band | Properties | Share of stock | Annual charge |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 2,780 | 3.8% | £1,670.25 |
| B | 7,320 | 10.1% | £1,948.62 |
| C | 20,550 | 28.4% | £2,227.00 |
| D | 17,890 | 24.7% | £2,505.37 |
| E | 10,970 | 15.2% | £3,062.12 |
| F | 7,140 | 9.9% | £3,618.87 |
| G | 4,890 | 6.8% | £4,175.62 |
| H | 780 | 1.1% | £5,010.74 |
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 West Berkshire on stock-weighted charge (DHEAVY) - a different ordering from Band D twins.
- West Oxfordshire£2,679.22
- South Hams£2,678.74
- Stratford-on-Avon£2,673.37
- Croydon£2,653.72
- Tunbridge Wells£2,647.83
West Berkshire's nearest year-on-year movers · STEEP
West Berkshire moved Band D from £2,382.84 to £2,505.37 (+5.14%, STEEP; competition rank 102nd of 350). Closest published movements: Bedford, Eastleigh, Kirklees.
- Bedford5.14%
- Eastleigh5.14%
- Kirklees5.14%
- Leeds5.13%
- Southend-on-Sea5.13%
- Telford and the Wrekin5.13%
How West Berkshire compares in South East
Among the 64 billing authorities in South East, West Berkshire's 2026-27 Band D charge of £2,505.37 ranks 28th of 64, higher than 56% of them (£30.37 above the South East average of £2,475.00). Its nearest-charged neighbours in the region:
| Region rank | Council | Band D 2026-27 |
|---|---|---|
| 26th | Sevenoaks | £2,522.36 |
| 27th | Mole Valley | £2,519.86 |
| 28th | West Berkshire | £2,505.37 |
| 29th | Maidstone | £2,502.59 |
| 30th | Wokingham | £2,497.70 |
Regional rank out of 64 South East 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. West Berkshire 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 West Berkshire 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 West Berkshire are the area Band D and statutory band multiples with no county tier.