Council Tax Bands in the East of England 2026/27

East of England Authority Band D Rates 2026/27

Figures are the area Band D total for the main billing area of each authority, including police, fire, and adult social care precepts. In two-tier shire districts the figure blends the parished and unparished parts of the area, and individual parished addresses pay a small parish precept on top. Source: MHCLG, ‘Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England: 2026 to 2027’ (accredited official statistics, published 25 March 2026), Tables 9 and 10, Open Government Licence v3.0.

Police and Fire Precepts Across the East of England

The East of England is the most fragmented region on the site for policing. It is split across six forces, and this is a large part of why bills differ from one part of the region to the next.

• Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner covers Thurrock, Southend-on-Sea, Basildon and the rest of Essex. The policing precept for 2026/27 is £275.31 at Band D, up £14.94 (about 5.7%) on the year, with a separate Essex County Fire and Rescue precept of £92.52.
• Bedfordshire Police covers Luton, Bedford and Central Bedfordshire. Its Band D precept for 2026/27 is £297.59, up £18.50 (about 6.6%) on the year after the Commissioner secured Home Office approval to exceed the standard cap.
• Cambridgeshire Constabulary covers Peterborough and Cambridge; Hertfordshire Constabulary covers Watford; Suffolk Constabulary covers Ipswich; and Norfolk Constabulary covers Norwich. Each sets its own precept within the government cap.

Fire is split too, between authorities such as Essex, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Suffolk and Norfolk. Every household also pays an adult social care precept, which each upper-tier council sets within the government cap. In the two-tier shire areas a bill also combines a county precept and a district precept, so two homes a few miles apart in different districts can pay noticeably different totals.

Why East of England Bills Differ

Across the billing authorities, Band D bills run from £2,254.68 in Thurrock to £2,556.40 in Huntingdonshire, a spread of £301.72 a year at Band D. Part of that gap is the different police and fire precepts described above; the rest comes from each council's own demand and the adult social care precept it levies. The Thames-side unitary authorities sit at the lower end; the rural shire districts, where a district precept stacks on top of the county, police and fire charges, sit at the top.

Luton sits at £2,439.93 at Band D for 2026/27, up £119.50 (5.1%) on 2025/26. See the full Luton Band A to H rate table for the monthly figures and band breakdown.