About CouncilTaxBands.com
An independent UK reference for council tax bands and rates for England, Wales, and Scotland. Operated by Digital Signet, founded by Oliver Wakefield-Smith. Sourced from the Valuation Office Agency, the Scottish Assessors Association, and each local authority's published 2026/27 schedule.
Why this site exists
UK council tax information is fragmented across three authoritative sources: the VOA for England and Wales bands, the Scottish Assessors Association for Scotland bands, and 300+ individual local authority pages for the actual 2026/27 charges. Each source is authoritative on its slice; none of them give a unified answer to the simple question "what will my band cost me this year?"
This site exists to bring the three together: enter a postcode, see the band (from the official record), the council (from the postcode-to-LA map), and the band charge for 2026/27 (from the council's published schedule). There is no email gate. The official source for each piece of data is linked on the relevant page so anything can be verified.
Who runs the site
Oliver runs Digital Signet, an independent AI-development studio that builds data-led pricing and decision tools using public datasets. After 20 years as a solutions architect and tech lead across media, utilities, satellite, and data, he founded Digital Signet to apply autonomous AI development methodology to real software at scale.
Reach Oliver: oliver@digitalsignet.com. Profile: LinkedIn.
About Digital Signet
This site is operated by Digital Signet, an independent AI-development studio founded by Oliver Wakefield-Smith. It is part of a portfolio of consumer cost-reference and calculator sites we run as a live R&D lab for our Signet methodology, an autonomous AI development team that ships real software at scale.
Digital Signet does not set bands, does not collect council tax, does not act for any local authority, and does not accept paid placements from the VOA, the Scottish Assessors, councils, or council-tax-rebate companies. Editorial direction is set by Oliver. Drafts are produced via Digital Signet's autonomous AI development methodology and reviewed against the editorial framework before publication.
For consulting enquiries (fractional CTO, AI product strategy, autonomous-dev-team setup): see digitalsignet.com.
Editorial principles
- Three authoritative sources, each cited per data slice. Bands for England and Wales are taken from the Valuation Office Agency. Bands for Scotland are taken from the Scottish Assessors Association. Charges for 2026/27 come from each local authority's published schedule. The relevant authoritative source is linked from every page where its data appears.
- Calculator math is documented inline. Single-person 25%, student exemption, disability band reduction, second-home premium and other adjustments are described in plain English on the relevant pages.
- No paid placements. No supplier sponsorships. Independent of the VOA, the Scottish Assessors, local authorities, and the council-tax-rebate industry. Affiliate links, where present, are clearly disclosed in the footer.
- Update only when the underlying schedules change. Council 2026/27 charges are loaded from each local authority's published schedule. Where a council issues an in-year amendment, the relevant page is updated to match.
Contact
For corrections, methodology questions, or scenarios that don't fit cleanly: oliver@digitalsignet.com. For billing questions, contact your local authority directly. There is no newsletter signup, no email gate on the postcode lookup, no chat widget.
counciltaxbands.com is independently operated and is not affiliated with the Valuation Office Agency, HMRC, the Scottish Assessors Association, or any local authority. This is not legal or financial advice. Rates correct at April 2026; councils may adjust in-year in exceptional circumstances.