The full A to H table for 2026/27, all nine parish charges, and where the money goes. Basildon froze its own share at £304.56 while the bill still rose £82.26.

Basildon Council froze its own share of council tax for 2026/27, holding Band D at £304.56. Bills still went up, by £82.26 at Band D, because the borough controls only about an eighth of what you pay.

A Band D household with no parish charge pays £2,314.35 this year, up from £2,232.09. Here is the full table, every parish charge, and the arithmetic error sitting on the council’s own page.

Council tax bands A to H, 2026/27

These are the charges for the parts of the borough with no parish or town council, which includes Basildon itself, Laindon, Pitsea and Vange. If you live in one of the nine parished areas, add the charge from the section below.

Band Essex County Council Police Basildon Borough Fire Total
A (up to £40,000) £1,094.64 £183.54 £203.04 £61.68 £1,542.90
B (£40,001-£52,000) £1,277.08 £214.13 £236.88 £71.96 £1,800.05
C (£52,001-£68,000) £1,459.52 £244.72 £270.72 £82.24 £2,057.20
D (£68,001-£88,000) £1,641.96 £275.31 £304.56 £92.52 £2,314.35
E (£88,001-£120,000) £2,006.84 £336.49 £372.24 £113.08 £2,828.65
F (£120,001-£160,000) £2,371.72 £397.67 £439.92 £133.64 £3,342.95
G (£160,001-£320,000) £2,736.60 £458.85 £507.60 £154.20 £3,857.25
H (over £320,000) £3,283.92 £550.62 £609.12 £185.04 £4,628.70

Source: the council’s Council Tax bands and charges 2026/2027. The bands are the property’s value as at 1 April 1991, not today’s price.

The £1,641.96 correction

The council’s page prints Essex County Council’s Band D charge as £1,641.99. That figure is 3p too high, and it is the only cell in the whole table that does not reconcile.

The check is straightforward. Council tax bands are fixed ratios of Band D, so every other band implies what Band D must be. Bands A, B, C, E, F, G and H all imply an Essex County Council Band D of exactly £1,641.96. Add the four precepts at Band D using £1,641.96 and you get £2,314.35, which is the total the council itself prints. Use £1,641.99 and you get £2,314.38, which appears nowhere.

Essex County Council settles it. It approved a 3.95% rise worth £62.37 a year at Band D, and £1,579.59 plus £62.37 is £1,641.96. The total row is right. The single Essex cell has a typo.

Where your money goes

How a Band D Basildon council tax bill of £2,314.35 splits between Essex County Council, Basildon Borough Council, the police and the fire service

The borough council collects the whole bill but keeps only its own slice. It uses that share for refuse collection, planning, leisure and community facilities. Essex County Council pays for social care, highways and libraries out of by far the largest portion.

What changed this year

Four bodies set the bill and they moved in four different directions:

  • Basildon Borough Council: frozen at £304.56. Councillors approved a balanced £45.2m net revenue budget at Full Council on 12 February 2026, with no increase in the borough’s share.
  • Essex County Council: up 3.95%, from £1,579.59 to £1,641.96, an extra £62.37. That is below the 4.99% the government would have allowed, and it splits into a 1.95% general increase and a 2% adult social care precept.
  • Police: up 5.74%, an extra £14.94, to £275.31.
  • Fire: up 5.65%, an extra £4.95, to £92.52.

Together that is £82.26 more at Band D, a rise of about 3.7%, despite the borough’s freeze. The police and fire precepts were approved by the Essex Police, Fire and Crime Panel on 3 February 2026.

The borough’s own budget forecasts a gap of £5.8m in 2027/28 rising to £13.1m by 2029/30, so the freeze is unlikely to be repeated indefinitely.

The nine parish and town council charges

Nine parts of the borough add a parish or town precept on top. Basildon, Laindon, Pitsea and Vange pay nothing extra.

Parish or town council Band D charge Band D total
Great Burstead and South Green £13.77 £2,328.12
Wickford Town Council £25.11 £2,339.46
Billericay Town £26.01 £2,340.36
Ramsden Crays £27.00 £2,341.35
Shotgate £37.62 £2,351.97
Noak Bridge £41.13 £2,355.48
Bowers Gifford and North Benfleet £47.61 £2,361.96
Ramsden Bellhouse £81.54 £2,395.89
Little Burstead £91.44 £2,405.79

The spread is wider than it looks. A Band D household in Little Burstead pays £77.67 a year more than one in Great Burstead and South Green, for the same county, police, fire and borough services. Little Burstead’s precept alone is about three and a half times Billericay’s.

Full parish figures for every band are on the council’s bands page.

Checking and challenging your band

Bands are set by the Valuation Office Agency, part of HMRC, and Basildon Council has no say in them. Look up your own band on GOV.UK, or through the council’s Where I Live lookup, which returns your band alongside your bin days.

There are two separate routes, and they go to different places:

  • Wrong band? That is the Valuation Office Agency. The band is based on the 1991 market value, so later house price movements are not grounds for a change.
  • Wrong bill? Liability, discounts, exemptions and Council Tax Reduction are the council’s. Appeal in writing to the Council Tax Billing Office. If the council rejects it, you can then go to the Valuation Tribunal.

Grounds for a liability appeal are that you are not the resident or owner, the property should be exempt, the council miscalculated, or you should have had a discount. Details on the council’s appeals page.

Discounts and reductions

  • Single resident discount: 25% off the annual bill if you are the only adult aged 18 or over in the property.
  • Disregards. Some people are not counted at all, including full-time students. An apprentice in the household can bring a 25% discount or disregard.
  • Disability reduction where the property has facilities for a disabled resident.
  • Empty and unfurnished: 50% for up to three months. Full rates after that.
  • Uninhabitable properties: 50% for up to one year where major repairs or structural alterations are under way.
  • Care leavers get a discretionary reduction, either on their own account or the household they join.

Premiums, including one that is new this year

  • Empty over one year: full rate plus 100%
  • Empty over five years: full rate plus 200%
  • Empty over ten years: full rate plus 300%
  • Second homes: full rate plus 100%, new from 1 April 2026. A second home means a property that is unoccupied but furnished.

Exemptions from both premiums cover a property actively marketed for sale or rent for up to 12 months, a property in probate for 12 months from the grant, and armed forces job-related accommodation. From April 2026 the second home premium also exempts job-related dwellings, occupied caravan pitches and boat moorings, and seasonal homes where year-round occupation is prohibited. Details on the council’s empty property page.

Council Tax Reduction

The working-age scheme is a banded discount based on weekly income and household size. The important limit is not on the council’s summary page:

The maximum award is 75%. Every working-age claimant in Basildon pays at least a quarter of their bill, however low their income.

  • 75% is the top band, for households on £0 to £100 a week
  • A single person or couple with no dependants gets nothing above £250 a week
  • A household with two or more dependants can still get 25% at up to £400 a week
  • Claims are capped at two dependent children regardless of family size
  • You must have less than £6,000 in savings

If you qualify for at least 25% and someone in the household receives a qualifying disability benefit, the award is increased to 75%. Figures from the council’s Council Tax Reduction Scheme 2026/27.

Worth noting: the percentage table on the council’s working age page is an image labelled “Working age CTR 23-24”. The scheme document above is the current one.

Pension-age claimants come under a separate national scheme.

The 21-day rule

Failing to tell the council about a change in circumstances within 21 days, or claiming a discount you are not entitled to, can bring a penalty of up to £280. That applies to every discount on this page, including the single resident discount when someone moves in.

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