ON THE MONEY

BRACE yourself, council tax is poised to rise again next year following Chancellor Rachel Reeves' allocation of funds in her June spending review.

- Katie Elliott

This already costly levy continues to climb year after year across nearly all local authorities, with some areas seeing increases of up to 15.6% - a tough blow for Falkirk in Scotland this April.

But what else might sting for an estimated 400,000 households is the possibility that they've been overpaying council tax for three decades. The suggestion comes from Money Saving Expert founder Martin Lewis, who has been sounding the alarm recently, urging people to check their and their neighbours' council tax bands to compare bills. The problem stems from inaccurate valuations from the early 1990s.

Payments are based on your property's band, determined by its value as of April 1, 1991, with bands ranging from A to H.