Wandsworth Council has warned that council tax will need to rise by £958 for a Band D property in 2027/28 unless the Government changes its local government funding settlement.
The council says the Government's Fair Funding reforms will reduce its funding by £84 million a year, which it describes as a 40% cut, leaving the authority facing significant pressure from funding changes, rising costs and growing demand for services.
The increase has not yet been formally set. Wandsworth says the exact council tax proposal will be confirmed through its statutory budget-setting process in 2027 and could change if ministers revise the funding settlement.
Band D increase of £958
Wandsworth currently has unusually low council tax compared with most other English authorities. The council says that, without a change in Government policy, a Band D property will require an additional £958 in council tax in 2027/28.
Published figures indicate that would take the overall Band D bill from around £1,020 to approximately £1,978, an increase of about 94%, although the final bill will also depend on the Greater London Authority precept and the formal budget decision.
Wandsworth has stressed that the £958 figure is not yet the final council tax charge. Final levels will be determined through the council's formal budget process.
Council blames Government funding reforms
The authority says the Government's Fair Funding reforms will reduce its funding by £84 million a year, equivalent to what the council describes as a 40% cut.
Wandsworth says that sum is greater than its combined spending on parks, libraries, leisure centres, bin collection and street cleaning.
The council's spending review says it had been facing a forecast £184 million budget gap by 2030/31 if no action was taken, alongside pressure on reserves and projected borrowing.
It has identified savings, changes to services and reductions in planned borrowing, but says these measures will not be sufficient to close the remaining gap without additional council tax income unless the funding settlement changes.
Government removes referendum limit for Wandsworth
The Government has confirmed that it does not intend to set the normal council tax referendum principles for Wandsworth in 2027/28 and 2028/29.
Normally, increases above the referendum threshold can trigger a requirement for local approval. The Government's final local government finance settlement confirmed that Wandsworth is one of six authorities for which referendum principles will not be set during those two financial years.
The other authorities are Westminster, Windsor and Maidenhead, Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham and the City of London.
The Government said the affected councils have significantly lower-than-average council tax bills and that the change would enable them to rebalance disparities in their council tax levels if they choose to do so.
Wandsworth calls for Government rethink
Deputy council leader and cabinet member for finance Peter Graham said the authority did not want to impose the increase and called on ministers to reconsider the settlement.
He said: “Council tax will need to rise unless Government thinks again. And it must think again.”
Graham said additional income would be needed to protect services if the settlement remained unchanged, while arguing that residents should not have to bear the cost of what the council considers an unfair funding system.
Wandsworth says it has submitted proposals ahead of the Government's Autumn Budget and will work with Westminster City Council, Richmond upon Thames and Kensington and Chelsea on a proposal under the Sustainable Communities Act seeking changes to the funding arrangements.
Final decision still to come
No 94% council tax rise has yet been formally imposed.
The council's position is that an additional £958 for a Band D property will be required if the Government does not alter its funding reforms. The final council tax figure remains subject to the statutory budget-setting process in 2027.
That distinction is important: the scale of the potential increase has been officially confirmed by Wandsworth Council, but residents' final bills have not yet been set.