Council Tax Increase 2026: The UK Councils That Raised It Most
Aberdeenshire raised Band D council tax the most for 2026-27 at 10.00% (~£153.28/yr)
According to the joined MHCLG / Scottish Government CTAS / Welsh Government Band D tables for 2025-26→2026-27, PlainCouncilTax ranks all 350 UK billing authorities by year-on-year percentage rise. Aberdeenshire leads at 10.00% (about £153.28 more a year, to £1,686.04). The cash and percentage columns are both shown because a large % on a small bill differs from a small % on a large one.
- 10.00% biggest rise
- £153.28 extra /yr
- 350 authorities ranked
For the 2026-27 financial year, Aberdeenshire raised its Band D council tax by 10.00%, about £153.28 more a year, taking it to £1,686.04. The ten biggest risers of the 350 UK billing authorities are below, with both the cash and the percentage rise, because a large percentage on a small bill and a small percentage on a large bill are different things.
Ranking derived from our database of UK billing authority charges for 2026-27, against the 2025-26 charge. Last updated: .
Methodology
This ranking compares the 2025-26 and 2026-27 area Band D columns in the joined national table: MHCLG for England, Scottish Government CTAS for Scotland, and Welsh Government / StatsWales for Wales. Numeric rows are loaded from the database rather than copied into the page. See our full methodology page for source attribution and column lineage.
The top-10 cut ranks the overall published area Band D change. That total can aggregate several precepting components, while annual increase arrangements differ by nation and authority type, so the percentage is not a like-for-like test of a council own-component threshold.
Ranking
| # | Council | Band D 2026-27 | Rise (£/yr) | Rise (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aberdeenshire | £1,686.04 | £153.28 | 10.00% |
| 2 | Moray | £1,731.14 | £157.38 | 10.00% |
| 3 | Argyll & Bute | £1,783.33 | £157.69 | 9.70% |
| 4 | East Dunbartonshire | £1,751.67 | £151.97 | 9.50% |
| 5 | Angus | £1,598.65 | £137.13 | 9.38% |
| 6 | Shropshire | £2,528.18 | £209.38 | 9.03% |
| 7 | Midlothian | £1,816.16 | £149.96 | 9.00% |
| 8 | Perth & Kinross | £1,673.84 | £136.80 | 8.90% |
| 9 | Falkirk | £1,715.09 | £138.32 | 8.77% |
| 10 | Stirling | £1,752.87 | £141.09 | 8.75% |
Findings
The top-ranked record pays approximately £1,686.04 per year for a Band D property, below the £2,337.00 mean across the 350 billing authorities (each counted once, which is not the same as the average household bill) - this ranking sorts by percentage increase, not absolute charge, so the biggest year-on-year riser is not necessarily among the highest-charging councils overall. The gap between the highest-ranked and the tenth-ranked record reflects underlying funding-allocation decisions plus precept stacking from precepting authorities.
England's referendum principles and adult social care flexibility are set annually and vary by authority type; Scotland and Wales use separate arrangements. The page therefore reports the measured national-table change without labeling values above one percentage as a breach.
For deeper analysis of why specific councils sit where they do in the ranking, see the per-council detail pages linked from the table, each surfaces the full Band A-H schedule, the precept disaggregation where available, and the year-on-year trend versus the prior tax year.