Wandsworth's £958 council tax rise would face no referendum

Wandsworth Council said on 15 September that a band D council tax bill would have to rise by £958 a year unless the government thinks again about its funding reforms.

Normally a rise of that size would have to be put to the borough’s voters. This one would not. In February the government confirmed it does not intend to set a council tax referendum limit for Wandsworth in 2027-28 or 2028-29, so a rise of that size would not have to be put to a vote.

Every report on the announcement treated the £958 as a threat aimed at ministers. It is closer to a plan ministers already made room for.

The 5% rule, and why it stops at Wandsworth’s door

For 2026-27, a London borough may raise its own council tax by 3% for general spending, plus a further 2% for adult social care. Five per cent in total. Above that, the increase is excessive and has to be put to a local referendum; a council proposing one must prepare substitute calculations at the lower figure, which take effect if voters say no.

The 5% is measured on the council’s own charge, not on the whole bill. Wandsworth’s own band D charge for 2026/27 is £509.84, with the Greater London Authority precept of £510.51 making up the rest of a £1,020.35 bill. Five per cent of the council’s own share is about £25.

That rule does not reach Wandsworth for the years in question. At the provisional settlement in December, the government proposed setting no referendum principles at all for six authorities — the City of London, Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, Wandsworth, Westminster, and Windsor and Maidenhead — in 2027-28 and 2028-29, and confirmed that intention in its response in February. The test was that an authority is upper tier, has 95% of its income protected, and charges below-average council tax. The stated aim is “to increase fairness for taxpayers, provide better value for money, and enable areas to rebalance disparities in their council tax levels should they wish to”. Band D payers in the six areas pay between £450 and £1,280 less than the England average, and the settlement redirects around £250 million to higher-need areas on the assumption that they can raise it locally.

One caveat on how firm this is. The principles are made in a report laid before the Commons each year, usually in February. What exists now is a confirmed intention across a three-year settlement, not the 2027-28 report itself.

The three figures that matter

Band D council tax	A year
Wandsworth bill now	£1,020.35
After a £958 rise	£1,978
England average now	£2,392

The government’s council tax statistics, published on 25 March 2026, name Wandsworth as the lowest area band D bill in England at £1,028 — slightly above the council’s own £1,020.35 because the area figure averages in the Wimbledon and Putney Commons levy. The £2,392 England average comes from the same release.

So the rise is about 94% on the current bill, which is why it was reported as a doubling. And a household paying the new figure would still be paying about £414 less than the average English household pays today. Both of those things are true at once.

The council did not say which part of the bill its £958 sits on. Adding it to the whole bill gives the 94%; adding it to the council’s own £509.84 share would nearly triple that share.

Where the number comes from

Wandsworth says the government’s Fair Funding reforms cut its funding by £84 million a year, a 40% reduction, which it describes as more than all its spending on parks, libraries, leisure centres, bin collection and street cleaning put together. It has opened a borough-wide engagement exercise and says final council tax levels and budget proposals come in February 2027.

Fair Funding redistributes money between councils rather than adding to the pot. Wandsworth is the first to attach a household number to what that means, and it is the council with the most room to rise, because it starts lowest and because its ceiling has been taken away. Others in the same position may follow.

The staff inside the same budget

The £84 million is also the budget that pays the borough’s own workforce. Council pay is not a local decision in the way council tax is: rates for most staff are set nationally on the NJC pay spine, so a council facing a funding cut cannot adjust the pay rate — it adjusts the number of people. You can check the current national award on our NJC pay award page, and which employers use the spine on our employers page.

Where these figures come from

• Council tax will need to rise unless Government thinks again — Wandsworth Borough Council
• Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026 to 2027 — GOV.UK
• Draft Council Tax Referendum Principles Report 2026-27 — Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
• Wandsworth Council to double council tax in 2027 — South West Londoner

Every figure traces to a dated document — the line this section is named after. If one here is wrong, tell us and it gets fixed publicly. Work out your own figures.