Last updated 3 March 2023
Every one of London’s 32 boroughs will be increasing their council tax in the coming financial year 2023/24, of which two-thirds are to hike it by the maximum 4.99 per cent allowed by the government without holding a special referendum.
Croydon proposed a 15 per cent increase due to its particularly perilous financial position, for which it was given special dispensation by the government. However, that has been thrown into uncertainty by a full council meeting declining to approve it.
Some boroughs, while suggesting they have frozen council tax, are in fact increasing the social care levy that forms part of what they charge households by the maximum two per cent permitted for the coming financial year. They are Wandsworth, Westminster, Tower Hamlets and Kensington & Chelsea, although the latter is also giving residents a rebate.
This article will continue to be updated as more information comes in:
4.99 per cent increases
- Barking & Dagenham
- Bexley
- Brent
- Bromley
- Camden
- Ealing
- Enfield
- Greenwich
- Hackney
- Hammersmith & Fulham
- Haringey
- Harrow
- Havering
- Hillingdon
- Hounslow
- Islington
- Kingston
- Lewisham
- Merton
- Newham
- Redbridge
- Richmond
- Southwark
- Sutton
- Waltham Forest
3.8 per cent increase
2.99 per cent increase
2.00 per cent increases (social care levy)
- Kensington & Chelsea (also giving rebate)
- Tower Hamlets
- Wandsworth
- Westminster
To be decided
Separately, Wandsworth and Merton have issued a joint statement saying they are “appalled” by the intention of Wimbledon and Putney Commons Conservators – a statutory body responsible for those two large green spaces – to increase by around 12.5 per cent the annual special levy they raise on residents of the neighbouring boroughs who live close to the two commons, who include around 28,000 in Wandsworth. During 2022/23 the levy has ranged from £21 to £64 for the year, depending on the council tax band of the property.
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