Local Government Finance: City of Westminster and Wandsworth
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 20 January 2026 to Question 106139 on Local Government Finance: City of Westminster and Wandsworth, what assumption his Department made on the percentage increase in the level of Band D council tax in each of the individual three years of the Settlement on which the increase in council tax requirement for (a) Westminster and (b) Wandsworth was estimated.
Answered by Alison McGovern
It is for individual councils to decide their level of council tax, taking into consideration a range of local factors, including the impact on taxpayers. As has been standard practise with previous governments, the government’s estimate of core spending power, for these councils, assumes that they will increase by 5% in 2026-27 and by 5% plus an additional £150 in both2027-28 and 2028-29.
Removing referendum principles in these areas will enable the government to allocate over £250 million more funding for public services in places with higher need instead of subsidising very low bills for 500,000 households in these councils.
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