Council Tax Bands in South East England 2026/27
Band D rates for the 16 South East local authorities in 2026/27, with year-on-year change. The region runs from Berkshire and Oxfordshire down to Hampshire, Sussex and Kent, split across five police forces (Thames Valley, Hampshire and Isle of Wight, Sussex, Surrey and Kent) and separate fire authorities. Click any council for the full Band A to H rate table.
Cheapest covered authority
Windsor and Maidenhead
£1,952.62
Most expensive covered authority
Oxford
£2,678.40
Thames Valley Police precept 2026/27
£298.28
Band D, Berkshire, Bucks and Oxfordshire
South East Authority Band D Rates 2026/27
| Council | Band D 2026/27 |
|---|---|
| Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead | £1,952.62 |
| Bracknell Forest Council | £2,264.80 |
| Portsmouth City Council | £2,291.71 |
| Medway Council | £2,328.55 |
| Milton Keynes City Council | £2,372.21 |
| Southampton City Council | £2,381.48 |
| Ashford Borough Council | £2,410.16 |
| Slough Borough Council | £2,414.44 |
| Wokingham Borough Council | £2,497.70 |
| West Berkshire Council | £2,505.37 |
| Buckinghamshire Council | £2,526.58 |
| Guildford Borough Council | £2,547.30 |
| Brighton and Hove City Council | £2,580.54 |
| Reading Borough Council | £2,612.77 |
| Isle of Wight Council | £2,625.79 |
| Oxford City Council | £2,678.40 |
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: individual authority 2026/27 council tax schedules and GOV.UK council tax Table 9 (MHCLG, March 2026).
Police and Fire Precepts Across the South East
The South East is not a single combined authority. It is split across five police forces, and this is a large part of why bills differ from one part of the region to the next.
- Thames Valley Police covers Berkshire (Reading, Slough, Wokingham, West Berkshire, Bracknell Forest, Windsor and Maidenhead), Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. Its Band D precept for 2026/27 is £298.28, up £15 (about 5.3%) on the year.
- Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary covers Southampton, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight, which levy the Hampshire police precept instead.
- Sussex Police covers Brighton and Hove, Surrey Police covers Guildford and the rest of Surrey, and Kent Police covers Medway and Ashford.
Fire is split too, between authorities such as Royal Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Hampshire and Isle of Wight, East and West Sussex, Surrey, and Kent and Medway. Every household also pays an adult social care precept, which each council sets within the government cap. In the two-tier shire counties 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 South East Bills Differ
Across the authorities we track, Band D bills run from £1,952.62 in Windsor and Maidenhead to £2,678.40 in Oxford, a spread of £725.78 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. Windsor and Maidenhead has long run one of the lowest Band D charges in the country.
Oxford sits at £2,678.40 at Band D for 2026/27, up £121.27 (4.7%) on 2025/26. See the full Oxford Band A to H rate table for the monthly figures and band breakdown.
Updated July 2026. Source: individual South East authority council tax schedules 2026/27, GOV.UK council tax Table 9 (MHCLG, March 2026), and the Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner precept 2026/27.