About checkcounciltax

UK council tax is one of those subjects where the official information exists, somewhere, but is fragmented across 380 different council websites, several spreadsheets on GOV.UK, and a handful of Valuation Office Agency pages. checkcounciltax pulls it all together in one place, in plain English, and rebuilds the whole site every April for the new tax year.

What we publish

For every UK council we publish:

• The current band rates, A through H, sourced directly from the council's own published schedule
• Year-on-year change — how much the bill rose, and what's driving the rise
• The precept breakdown — which authority gets what share of your bill (council, GLA where applicable, fire, police, parish)
• Discounts available — single person, council tax reduction, student exemption, severely mentally impaired disregard, disabled band reduction, care-leaver discount, annexe discount
• Empty home and second home rules — premium percentages and when they kick in
• Payment options — direct debit dates, 10 vs 12 instalments, online and phone payment routes
• Contact details — the council's actual phone number and council tax department address

What makes us different

We don't run ads or affiliate networks

The site is free to use, with no signup. We don't run third-party display advertising. If we ever add affiliate links to relevant services — say, debt advice or rebanding tools — they'll be clearly marked and won't change which councils we cover or how we present them.

We're independent

We're not part of any UK council, the VOA, MHCLG, or any government department. We have no commercial relationships with any of them. Our incentive is just to be the most accurate, most readable resource on the topic.

We rebuild from scratch every April

UK council tax changes annually on 1 April. Rather than patching last year's data, we rebuild the entire site from MHCLG's annual release plus per-council schedules. That means when a council's website is slow to update or hides changes deep in a budget PDF, we still get the right numbers from the official statistical release.

We show our working

The methodology page sets out exactly which sources we use, how we handle edge cases, and what we don't yet cover. If you find something we got wrong, tell us and we'll correct it.

Who's behind this

checkcounciltax is operated by an independent UK publisher who also runs other public-data sites. We're a small operation — building, designing, and writing in-house. We have no investors, no sponsors, and no parent company.

If you have questions about the site, want to suggest a feature, or have spotted an error in our data, the best way to reach us is the contact page.

Editorial principles

A few rules we try to stick to:

• Accuracy over engagement. We'd rather be useful than viral. If something is uncertain we say so.
• Plain English over jargon. Council tax has its own vocabulary (precepts, referenda, S114, BCP, MTFP). Where we use a term we explain it.
• Transparent sourcing. Every rate we publish has an underlying source we can point to.
• No false urgency. We don't sensationalise rises or scare people into clicking. Council tax going up by 4.99% is news; "your bill is about to skyrocket!!" is noise.
• Genuinely helpful. Where there's a discount, exemption, or reduction someone might not know about, we say so prominently.

What we're working on next

We're still relatively new. Things we're working towards:

• Postcode-to-council lookup so you can land directly on your own council page
• A free rebanding-checker tool to help estimate whether a band challenge might be worthwhile
• Expanded coverage of Welsh and Scottish councils
• Per-council guides to challenging a band and applying for the council tax reduction scheme
• Year-on-year history tables showing how each council's bill has changed over the last decade

If there's something specific you'd find useful, let us know.

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checkcounciltax.co.uk · Built with public data · Not affiliated with any UK council, the VOA, or MHCLG.