Biggest Council Tax Increases 2026-27

Rank UK authorities by the change in published area Band D Council Tax from 2025-26 to 2026-27, with cash movements and national context.

Research period:

Compiled by PlainCouncilTax on 2026-08-04
Aberdeenshire: +10.00%

Aberdeenshire recorded the largest change in the published area Band D total for 2026-27 at +10.00% (£1,532.76 to £1,686.04), ahead of Moray (+10.00%). The total can include several precepts, and annual rules differ by nation.

Research question

Across England, Scotland, and Wales, which billing authorities increased the published area Band D total most from 2025-26 to 2026-27?

Methodology

Every numeric value on this page is pulled live from PlainCouncilTax's current dataset and ranked accordingly, no figure is hardcoded, and the ranking refreshes automatically whenever the underlying source agency dataset is updated.

Band D values come from MHCLG's England table, Scottish Government CTAS, and Welsh Government / StatsWales. Authorities without both annual values are excluded rather than shown as zero. The percentage, cash movement, ordering, and mean are our calculations.

This page is compiled from the same councils adapter used by the rankings and open downloads, and is reviewed under the editorial policy named in the byline. A correction is fixed in the shared input so every affected surface changes together.

See the methodology page for the full source vintage and refresh history.

Top 20 UK Councils by Year-on-Year Council Tax Increase 2025-26 to 2026-27

Live data, updates automatically when the source dataset is refreshed

1. Aberdeenshire102. Moray103. Argyll & Bute9.74. East Dunbartonshire9.55. Angus9.386. Shropshire9.037. Midlothian98. Perth & Kinross8.99. Falkirk8.7710. Stirling8.7511. North Somerset8.5512. Dumfries & Galloway8.513. Na h-Eileanan Siar8.514. North Ayrshire8.515. Scottish Borders8.516. South Ayrshire817. Trafford7.9718. Wyre Forest7.9519. Inverclyde7.920. Wychavon7.82

Absolute pound increase per council (2026-27 minus 2025-26)

Percentage change can mislead at low baselines, these bars show the raw pound increase per household.

1. Shropshire2092. North Somerset1963. Wyre Forest1854. Wychavon1725. Trafford1696. Argyll & Bute1587. Moray1578. Aberdeenshire1539. East Dunbartonshire15210. Midlothian15011. Stirling14112. Falkirk13813. Angus13714. Perth & Kinross13715. North Ayrshire13216. Scottish Borders12717. South Ayrshire12618. Dumfries & Galloway12419. Inverclyde12320. Na h-Eileanan Siar118

The ranked top 20

Every row below reflects PlainCouncilTax's current dataset (20 rows shown). When the source is refreshed, this table updates automatically.

# Council YoY change (%) Band D 2025-26 (£) Band D 2026-27 (£) Country
1 Aberdeenshire 10 1,532.76 1,686.04 Scotland
2 Moray 10 1,573.76 1,731.14 Scotland
3 Argyll & Bute 9.7 1,625.64 1,783.33 Scotland
4 East Dunbartonshire 9.5 1,599.7 1,751.67 Scotland
5 Angus 9.38 1,461.52 1,598.65 Scotland
6 Shropshire 9.03 2,318.8 2,528.18 England
7 Midlothian 9 1,666.2 1,816.16 Scotland
8 Perth & Kinross 8.9 1,537.04 1,673.84 Scotland
9 Falkirk 8.77 1,576.77 1,715.09 Scotland
10 Stirling 8.75 1,611.78 1,752.87 Scotland
11 North Somerset 8.55 2,294.94 2,491.22 England
12 Dumfries & Galloway 8.5 1,454.98 1,578.65 Scotland
13 Na h-Eileanan Siar 8.5 1,387.56 1,505.5 Scotland
14 North Ayrshire 8.5 1,553.77 1,685.84 Scotland
15 Scottish Borders 8.5 1,491.72 1,618.52 Scotland
16 South Ayrshire 8 1,569.41 1,694.96 Scotland
17 Trafford 7.97 2,122.54 2,291.7 England
18 Wyre Forest 7.95 2,327.49 2,512.47 England
19 Inverclyde 7.9 1,551.3 1,673.85 Scotland
20 Wychavon 7.82 2,200.98 2,373.19 England

Source: MHCLG, Scottish Government, and Welsh Government / StatsWales annual Band D tables; ordering and changes calculated by PlainCouncilTax.

Findings

Top entity in the ranking

Aberdeenshire has the largest published area Band D change in the joined 2026-27 release at 10%, moving from £1,532.76 to £1,686.04. The full top-20 set is rendered above. When MHCLG, the Scottish Government, and Welsh Government / StatsWales publishes a revised input, the shared dataset and this calculation are rebuilt together.

Distribution shape

The gap between the top-ranked record (10) and the 20th-ranked record (7.82) characterizes how concentrated the top of the distribution is. Where the top value is many multiples of the median value of the visible set, the population is highly concentrated, a small number of entities accumulate the bulk of the measured quantity. Where the top and bottom of the visible set are close together, the distribution is relatively flat across the top end. The full distribution beyond this top-20 cut is summarized in the aggregate context section below and explored in the linked entity profiles.

Aggregate context

Across 350 authorities with both annual values, the unweighted mean change is 5.1%. The smallest is 2.5% and the largest is 10.0%. Each authority counts once, so these are authority statistics rather than a household-weighted bill measure.

Source provenance

England rows come from MHCLG, Scotland rows from Scottish Government CTAS, and Wales rows from Welsh Government / StatsWales. The methodology page links each release and documents the financial-year mapping. The visible rate table, CSV, JSON, and this ranking use one councils table.

Why this ranking matters

This ranking separates a large percentage change from a high absolute bill and exposes the cash movement alongside both annual values. The linked council pages add the nation-correct band schedule, authority-mean comparison, and source attribution. It does not explain why a council changed its budget; that requires the authority's component-level budget documents.

What this analysis cannot tell us

Year-on-year change in the published area Band D total can combine the council's own component with police, fire, mayoral, parish, adult social care, and other precepts. England's referendum principles and adult social care flexibility are set annually and vary by authority type; Scotland and Wales use separate arrangements. The overall change therefore cannot be read as a like-for-like council own-component decision or tested against one UK-wide cap.

Related data

    Sources