Hidden ways to cut £100s or £1,000s off your council tax bill

Make sure you don’t miss out

- MARTIN

Over half of councils are expected to increase council tax by a maximum of 5% this April. Councils offer crucial public services, and during the pandemic, they’ve been a lifeline to many. Yet council tax bills – especially if they increase – are a stretch for many, and while it’s important that people pay their dues, it’s equally worth checking you’re not missing out on legitimate discounts and reductions. So, let me take you through my key council tax need-to-knows…

1 Up to 400,000 homes in England and Scotland are in the wrong band.

Council tax was introduced in Great Britain in 1993 (Northern Ireland has a different system). It’s a payment based on the value of your home – homes are banded from band A, the least expensive, to band H, the most expensive (Band I in Wales). Before the tax came in, a stop-gap ‘second-year valuation of all homes was done. Literally people in cars with a clipboard assessing a band. Yet in England and Scotland, that stop-gap has never been updated and is still what dictates the band for most homes – meaning there’s estimated to be up to 400,000 homes in the wrong band (Wales has more recently been re-assessed). Some will be paying too little, some too much, all the way back to 1993, which could be backdated.