Council Tax Rises Explained (properly)

Do you understand your council tax increase for this year? I read my bill and looked at the information on the council web site, but couldn't work out the details of which elements had changed and by how much. Increases were described in money terms or as percentage increases which made it difficult to understand.

Bristol City Council told me that my bill had "increased by 4.99%".

Avon & Somerset Police told me that my bill had increased by "£14 a year".

Avon Fire and Rescue told me that my bill had increased by "£5".

But my actual "Band D" bill had increased by £123.57 (5.02%). So I pulled together the data for the past few years and crunched the numbers.

Band D Council Tax Data

The table above bring all of the data into one place. It shows that whilst my bill did increase by £123.57 (5.02%), the amount that goes to Bristol City Council had increased by £104.57 (4.99%). The element that went to the police had increased by £14 (5.01%). And Avon Fire and Rescue got £5 more (5.85%).

Since 2022 my bill has increased by £353.52 (15.85%) from £2,230.37 to £2,583.89

It also shows that the Police get more than three times the amount that the Fire service get from increased council taxes. But the biggest percentage increase was for the Fire Service (5.85%).

Emergency Services Funding

The emergency services are funded by the council tax and other sources (government funding, income and reserves). The table below shows that our council tax funds a smaller proportion of their total funding that it had in the previous two years. For example, in 23/24 our council tax provided 39.3% of total Police funding, but in 25/26 this has reduced to 36.75% of total Police funding.

Whilst this means our council tax is funding a smaller percentage of the emergency services budget other taxes we pay will fund most of the rest. So what we might "save" on council tax we will pay on other taxes.