Wandsworth residents face record 160pc council tax increase

A London council is considering imposing England’s biggest ever council tax rise as Andy Burnham plots funding cuts for the capital’s boroughs, The Telegraph understands.

Conservative-run Wandsworth council is mulling a 160pc increase in bills from next April, sources told The Telegraph, after being given special permission by Labour to introduce uncapped increases for next year.

Five London boroughs, including Wandsworth, were permitted to introduce increases above the standard 5pc for the next two years after funds from Whitehall were redistributed to other councils across the country from the start of this tax year.

The powers were brought in as part of Angela Rayner’s overhaul of council funding, pushed through during her eight-month hiatus as Housing Secretary.

One Conservative source said that a final decision on Wandsworth’s rise had not yet been made, but that the figure would be announced in September.

In Wandsworth, the average Band D household currently pays £1,020 council tax a year. The proposed rise could mean the bill would increase by approximately £800.

The Government has cut funding to Wandsworth council by 40pc as it seeks to redistribute receipts across the rest of England.

Wandsworth, which has historically had some of the lowest council tax rates in the country, will receive £84m a year less from Whitehall by the end of the decade, according to council documents.

Following the increase, council tax in the Wandsworth would be frozen for the rest of the term, according to Parliament website PoliticsHome, which first reported the figures under consideration.

A tax increase of this size would dwarf the record set by Worcestershire council last year when it was granted special permission by Labour to raise bills by 9pc.

Since the local elections in May, Wandsworth has been run by a minority Conservative administration, after the party regained control of a council it previously held for 44 years.

Peter Graham, a Conservative councillor and cabinet member for finance, said: “Wandsworth’s financial crisis was made by Labour. The Government gave us the worst cash settlement in the country, slashing the council’s funding by 40pc. And locally, Labour managed to double the size of the hole, leaving a budget gap of £137m.

“That’s why we are running a full spending review to cut waste and find savings. It’s ongoing, but there will be a ceiling on what can be found. We will do everything we can to limit any tax increase, while protecting the core services that matter most to residents.”

Among the services at risk of being cut are a youth bus service, the dissolution of its Leader’s Office and a reduction in the number of new-build projects it supports in the borough.

Westminster, Wandsworth, Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham, and City of London, alongside Windsor and Maidenhead, were given special powers to introduce council tax increases above 5pc for 2026 and 2027.

Westminster council is considering raising council tax by 100pc from April, The Telegraph reported earlier this month, although it said on its website that bills could rise by as much as 200pc.

London councils have historically charged much lower tax than in other parts of the country. The average Band D council tax across England for the 2026-27 tax year is £2,392, while the same home in Westminster pays just £1,050.

In July, Mr Burnham complained that homes in Greater Manchester were paying “much higher” council tax than those living in “much larger” London houses.

He told the BBC: “The chancellor before, Rachel Reeves, was right to start to reform council tax to create some fairness there in relation to people in homes that are of much greater value, who haven’t seen their council tax go up over the years because of the failure to revalue the banding.

“That’s an example of something that I think was right and fair.”

Wandsworth council and the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government were contacted for comment.