Council Tax Bands in North West England 2026/27
Band D rates for the 14 metropolitan boroughs of Greater Manchester and Merseyside in 2026/27, with year-on-year change. Greater Manchester bills all include the shared Mayoral precept covering police, fire, and the Mayor's office; Merseyside boroughs carry separate Merseyside police and fire precepts. Click any council for the full Band A to H rate table.
Cheapest covered borough
Wigan
£2,152.68
Most expensive covered borough
Liverpool
£2,673.59
GM Mayoral precept 2026/27
£439.25
Included in all Greater Manchester bills (Band D)
North West Borough Band D Rates 2026/27
| Council | Band D 2026/27 |
|---|---|
| Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council | £2,152.68 |
| Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council | £2,291.70 |
| Manchester City Council | £2,312.04 |
| St Helens Borough Council | £2,394.87 |
| Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council | £2,399.74 |
| Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council | £2,446.63 |
| Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council | £2,500.59 |
| Bury Metropolitan Borough Council | £2,555.15 |
| Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council | £2,564.73 |
| Salford City Council | £2,594.45 |
| Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council | £2,595.47 |
| Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council | £2,600.83 |
| Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council | £2,618.90 |
| Liverpool City Council | £2,673.59 |
Figures are the Band D total for the main billing area of each borough, including all precepts. Parished areas within a borough (for example Haigh and Shevington in Wigan) pay a small additional parish precept on top. Source: individual borough 2026/27 council tax schedules.
The Greater Manchester Mayoral Precept
Like London's GLA precept, every household in the ten Greater Manchester boroughs (Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, and Wigan) pays a shared Mayoral precept on top of their borough's own element. For 2026/27 this combined Mayoral precept is £439.25 at Band D, made up of £285.30 for the Mayoral Police and Crime Commissioner and £153.95 for the Mayoral General precept. Of that general precept, £92.20 funds Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue and £61.75 covers the Mayor's general functions, including transport.
The Mayoral precept is set by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, not by your borough, so it is the same wherever you live across Greater Manchester. The variation in total Band D bills between boroughs therefore reflects each council's own spending decisions and the adult social care precept it levies, not the shared Mayoral element.
The four Merseyside boroughs we cover (Liverpool, Wirral, Sefton, and St Helens) sit outside Greater Manchester. Their bills instead include separate precepts for the Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner and the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority, alongside each council's own element.
Why North West Bills Differ
Across the boroughs we track, Band D bills run from £2,152.68 in Wigan to £2,673.59 in Liverpool, a spread of £520.91 a year at Band D. Because the Greater Manchester boroughs all share the same £439.25 Mayoral precept, the gap between them comes almost entirely from each council's own demand and its adult social care precept.
Salford, the most-searched council in the region, sits at £2,594.45 at Band D for 2026/27, up £142.43 (5.8%) on 2025/26. See the full Salford Band A to H rate table for the monthly figures and band breakdown.
Updated June 2026. Source: individual Greater Manchester and Merseyside borough council tax schedules 2026/27 and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority Mayoral precept schedule 2026/27.