Council Tax bands explained: a complete guide for 2026

Your Council Tax band is a letter, A to H in England and Scotland and A to I in Wales, based on what your home would have sold for on a fixed date: 1 April 1991 in England and Scotland, 1 April 2003 in Wales. Your council charges each band a fixed share of its Band D rate.

To see whether yours is too high, compare it with similar homes nearby: the same type, of similar age and size. One lower-banded neighbour proves little; several well-matched homes a band below yours are worth looking into. Here is the whole process, with a guide for each step:

Step by stepFrom checking your band to a decision

1
Check your band
Enter your postcode to see every band at it, free:
Postcode
2
Compare similar homes
Note the bands of homes like yours nearby, including the ones in your band and above.
Are most well-matched homes in a lower band than yours?
NoLeave it. A review can move a band up as well as down.
YesWorth gathering evidence. Continue below.
3
Gather evidence
Up to five close matches in a lower band, plus any sales from 1989–93 (2001–05 in Wales). Usually the slowest step: the £39 challenge picks the comparables and writes them into your email to the VOA.
4
Pick your route
A proposal if you started paying, or your band changed, in the last 6 months; otherwise a band review.
5
Send it
Online, or on the VO 7455 form with your evidence attached. Keep paying your bill meanwhile.
6
Decision in up to 4 or 12 months
Lowered, with a refund of past overpayments; unchanged; or raised. Only a proposal can be appealed.

The bands in England

Band	Value on 1 April 1991
A	Up to £40,000
B	£40,001 – £52,000
C	£52,001 – £68,000
D	£68,001 – £88,000
E	£88,001 – £120,000
F	£120,001 – £160,000
G	£160,001 – £320,000
H	Over £320,000

What counts is the value on the valuation date, not today's. Wales revalued in 2003 and has nine bands (the Wales guide). Scotland uses 1991 values with lower thresholds (the Scotland guide).

How the bill is worked out

Each council sets a Band D charge every year, and every other band pays a fixed fraction of it:

How the charge scalesEvery band is a fixed fraction of Band D

6/9

£1,520

7/9

£1,773

8/9

£2,027

reference9/9

£2,280

11/9

£2,787

13/9

£3,293

15/9

£3,800

18/9

£4,560

Illustrative, assuming a Band D bill of £2,280 — your council sets the real figure each year. The ratios are fixed by law and identical in every English authority: Band H always pays twice Band D, and three times Band A. Wales uses the same ratios and adds a ninth band, I, at 21/9; Scotland charges Bands E–H at higher ratios.

So in England a Band H bill is always twice a Band D bill in the same area. Discounts, exemptions and Council Tax Reduction then apply to your own bill. How much a lower band saves works through the numbers.

Who sets the bands

In England and Wales, the Valuation Office Agency (VOA). It became part of HMRC on 1 April 2026 and GOV.UK now calls it the Valuation Office; the forms still carry the old name. In Scotland, 14 regional Assessors set the bands. Northern Ireland has no Council Tax: it uses Domestic Rates, which this site doesn't cover.

Why some bands are out of line

England's bands come from a valuation carried out quickly in the early 1990s, largely from outside the properties, and they have never been revalued. An error made then usually stays on the list until someone brings evidence against it. We don't know of an official figure for how many bands are wrong, so we don't quote one.

Cases worth a second look include:

a street of different house types that all ended up in the same band;
a house converted into flats, or flats turned back into a house;
a home banded when it was new, on the strength of its first sale price.

How to check yours

The quickest way is the free check below: it looks up every band at your postcode and picks out the homes most like yours. To do it by hand, look up your band and your neighbours' one at a time on GOV.UK's Check your Council Tax band service; how to check your band covers what to note down.

Free · no sign-upCheck your band and comparables for free now

Every band at your postcode, the homes most like yours, and whether yours looks out of line.

What to do next

If most well-matched homes nearby are a band lower than yours, work through the steps at the top of this page. If they aren't, leave it: a review can move a band up as well as down (when not to challenge).