The 2026/27 charge for every one of the Croydon council tax bands A to H, how the bill splits with the GLA precept, and how to challenge or cut it.

The Croydon council tax bands for 2026/27 run from £1,733.27 at Band A to £5,199.82 at Band H, with the reference Band D charge at £2,599.91 for the year. That total is not one charge but three stacked together: what the council takes for its own services, a separate adult social care precept, and the Greater London Authority precept that every London borough collects on the Mayor’s behalf. This page sets out the figure for every band, shows how each one splits, explains what changed this year and by how much, and covers how to check your band, challenge it, and claim the discounts people most often miss. Every figure comes from Croydon Council’s own published tables.

Croydon council tax 2026/27, band by band

Bar chart of Croydon council tax by band for 2026/27, rising from £1,733 at Band A to £5,200 at Band H, with Band D at £2,600
Croydon's 2026/27 charge for each council tax band. Band D, the band everything else is calculated from, is £2,599.91.

The council publishes the full split on its council tax bands page.

Croydon council tax bands 2026/27, showing how each total is made up
BandCroydon servicesAdult social care preceptGLA preceptTotal for the year
A£1,172.31£220.62£340.34£1,733.27
B£1,367.70£257.39£397.06£2,022.15
C£1,563.08£294.16£453.79£2,311.03
D£1,758.47£330.93£510.51£2,599.91
E£2,149.24£404.47£623.96£3,177.67
F£2,540.01£478.01£737.40£3,755.42
G£2,930.78£551.55£850.85£4,333.18
H£3,516.94£661.86£1,021.02£5,199.82

Source: Croydon Council, council tax bands 2026 to 2027.

Unlike districts with parish councils, Croydon has no parish precepts, so there is one set of figures for the whole borough. A home in Purley, Coulsdon, Thornton Heath, New Addington or central Croydon pays the same as any other home in the same band.

What each part of the bill pays for

Take Band D as the worked example. Of the £2,599.91:

  • £1,758.47 is for Croydon services. This is the general charge that funds the things people think of as the council: bin collections, street cleaning, parking enforcement, libraries, parks, planning, housing and children’s services.
  • £330.93 is the adult social care precept. Central government allows councils with social care responsibilities to raise a separate, ring-fenced levy. It is shown as its own line on your bill and it funds care for older and disabled adults.
  • £510.51 goes to the Greater London Authority. Croydon collects it but does not spend it. The GLA precept funds the Mayor of London’s responsibilities, principally the Metropolitan Police, the London Fire Brigade and transport. Every London borough collects a GLA precept, and it is set by the Mayor rather than by Croydon.

That means just under 20 pence in every pound of a Croydon bill leaves the borough entirely for City Hall, and a further 13 pence is committed to adult social care before anything else is funded.

What changed this year

The 2026/27 bill went up by 4.81% overall, which the council puts at £119.43 a year, or £2.30 a week, at Band D. That total is made of three separate decisions:

  • Croydon services: up 2.99%
  • The adult social care levy: up 2.00%
  • GLA services: up 4.10%

At Band D the charge rose from £2,480.48 in 2025/26 to £2,599.91 in 2026/27. The council’s finances page sets out the arithmetic behind it: a budget requirement of £485.4m, met by a revenue support grant of £90.0m, business rates top-up of £62.4m, business rates income of £45.3m, and £288.9m of council tax for Croydon services, alongside £70.6m collected for the GLA. Total council tax collected rises from £343.3m to £359.5m, an increase of £16.2m.

The two largest services in that budget are adult social care and health at a net £198.3m, and children, young people and education at £162.3m. Between them they account for well over half of the council’s net revenue spending.

The background to the figures

Croydon’s charges sit against an unusual financial history, which the council documents itself. It was issued with a Report in the Public Interest in October 2020 concerning its financial position and governance, which the council describes as one of the most serious external reports a council can receive, and it received a second Report in the Public Interest in February 2022 over the Fairfield Halls refurbishment. The council’s own account of what it calls its “financial collapse” and the reviews that followed is published on its cost of accountability page. Those events are the reason Croydon’s base charge is higher than it was before 2020, and they are why the borough’s council tax attracts more attention than most.

What the bands actually mean

Every home in England sits in one of eight bands, A to H. The band does not reflect what your house is worth now. It reflects what the property would have sold for on the open market on 1 April 1991, and that valuation date has never moved since council tax started in 1993.

The 1991 value ranges, set nationally, are:

Band 1991 property value
A Up to £40,000
B £40,001 to £52,000
C £52,001 to £68,000
D £68,001 to £88,000
E £88,001 to £120,000
F £120,001 to £160,000
G £160,001 to £320,000
H More than £320,000

Band D is the reference band. Every other band is a fixed proportion of it, set in law and identical across England: Band A is six ninths of Band D, Band H is eighteen ninths, or exactly double. That is why the Croydon figures scale so cleanly, from £1,733.27 to £5,199.82.

How to check or challenge your band

Bands are set by the Valuation Office Agency, not by Croydon Council. A question about your band goes to the VOA; a question about your bill goes to the council.

To check your band, search your postcode on the GOV.UK council tax band checker. It shows your band alongside your neighbours’ bands, which is the single most useful piece of evidence you can have: if similar homes on your street sit a band lower, you may have a case.

To challenge it, use the VOA challenge service. You never need to pay a company to do this. Be aware a review can go either way, so gather the comparable evidence first.

Expect it to take a while. Croydon warns on its own bands page that the VOA’s new banding system is currently taking up to 6 months to resolve proposal reports and banding requests, and up to 12 months to resolve band reviews.

Discounts, premiums and support

Croydon runs the standard national discounts plus a local hardship scheme, all listed under get money off your bill:

  • Sole occupier discount of 25%. If you are the only adult living in the property, you can claim a quarter off. At Band D that is roughly £650 a year. The council notes it is currently reviewing accounts already holding this discount.
  • Full-time students. A discount or, in an all-student household, a full exemption.
  • Care leavers. A specific discount for people who spent time in care as a child.
  • Disabled band reduction. If you or someone you live with has a disability and the home has an adaptation for it, the bill can be charged at a lower band.
  • Council tax support, for people on low incomes or certain benefits, and a separate council tax hardship scheme for 2026/27.

The charges run the other way for property left standing empty. Croydon applies an empty property premium that escalates the longer a home sits unused, and it is one of the steepest schedules in the country:

  • Empty and unfurnished for more than 1 year: a 100% premium, so the property pays 200% council tax. This threshold was cut from two years to one on 1 April 2024.
  • Empty for at least 5 years: a 200% premium, so 300% council tax.
  • Empty for at least 10 years: a 300% premium, so 400% council tax.

The premium attaches to the property, not the owner, so buying or leasing a home that is already long-term empty means inheriting the premium. It can only be removed by bringing the property back into use (empty property premium).

Second homes carry a 100% premium from 1 April 2025, meaning 200% council tax, charged from the first day the property counts as a second home. A 50% discount survives in three narrow cases: an unoccupied caravan pitch, an unoccupied houseboat mooring, or a property owned by someone whose main residence is job-related accommodation (second homes).

Frequently asked questions

How much is council tax in Croydon for 2026/27?

Band A is £1,733.27, Band B £2,022.15, Band C £2,311.03, Band D £2,599.91, Band E £3,177.67, Band F £3,755.42, Band G £4,333.18 and Band H £5,199.82. There are no parish precepts in Croydon, so these figures apply across the whole borough.

How much did Croydon council tax go up this year?

By 4.81% overall, which the council states is £119.43 a year or £2.30 a week at Band D. That is Croydon services up 2.99%, the adult social care levy up 2.00% and GLA services up 4.10%. The Band D total rose from £2,480.48 to £2,599.91.

What is the GLA precept on my Croydon bill?

It is the Greater London Authority’s share, set by the Mayor of London and collected by every London borough. In Croydon it is £510.51 at Band D for 2026/27 and it funds the Metropolitan Police, the London Fire Brigade and transport. Croydon collects it but does not decide it or spend it.

How do I check what council tax band my Croydon home is in?

Search your postcode on the GOV.UK band checker. It is free and shows your neighbours’ bands too, which is the evidence you would need for a challenge.

Can I get a discount on my Croydon council tax?

Yes. The most commonly claimed is the 25% sole occupier discount for anyone living alone. There are also discounts and exemptions for full-time students, care leavers, disabled residents with an adapted home, and people on low incomes through council tax support or the 2026/27 hardship scheme.

What happens to council tax on an empty property in Croydon?

After one year empty and unfurnished the bill doubles, after five years it trebles, and after ten years it quadruples. The premium sticks to the property rather than the owner, so it carries over to a new owner or tenant until the home is brought back into use.

Sources

Figures are those published by Croydon Council for 2026/27 and checked on 4 August 2026. Charges are reset each spring, so confirm on the council’s own pages before relying on a figure.