Council tax

Council tax bands and charges

The amount of council tax you pay is based on which council tax band your property is in. This is based on how much the property was worth on 1 April 1991. Homes built since 1991 are still valued on the basis of what they would have been worth in 1991. Your council tax bill states which band you are in.

Average parish/town council tax charge
Band	Value of property (1 April 1991)	Wiltshire Council	Fire	Police	Average town/parish council precept	Total council tax payable
A	Up to £40,000	£1,203.82	£57.97	£179.51	£112.22	£1,553.52
B	£40,001 - £52,000	£1,404.46	£67.63	£209.43	£130.92	£1,812.44
C	£52,001 - £68,000	£1,605.09	£77.29	£239.35	£149.63	£2,071.36
D	£68,001 - £88,000	£1,805.73	£86.95	£269.27	£168.33	£2,330.28
E	£88,001 - £120,000	£2,207.00	£106.27	£329.11	£205.74	£2,848.12
F	£120,001 - £160,000	£2,608.28	£125.59	£388.95	£243.14	£3,365.96
G	£160,001 - £320,000	£3009.55	£144.92	£448.78	£280.55	£3,883.80
H	Over £320,000	£3,611.46	£173.90	£538.54	£336.66	£4,660.56

Central government requires all councils with adult social care responsibilities to publish the text below on their council tax information webpage.

"The Secretary of State made an offer to adult social care authorities. ("Adult social care authorities" are local authorities which have functions under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014, namely county councils in England, district councils for an area in England for which there is no county council, London borough councils, the Common Council of the City of London and the Council of the Isles of Scilly).

The offer was the option of an adult social care authority being able to charge an additional "precept" on its council tax without holding a referendum, to assist the authority in meeting expenditure on adult social care.

If the Secretary of State chooses to review this offer in respect of a particular financial year, this is subject to the approval of the House of Commons.

About the levy

In 2015 English councils were given the power to increase council tax to pay for social care services for adults. These are services which help people with physical or learning disabilities or mental health needs carry out their daily routines.

The government announced that a further 2% can be raised during 2024 to 2025. The precept must be spent on Adult Social Care.

The levy will be used to meet growing demand and ease the pressure on social care budgets. You are unable to opt out paying this levy, or any other council tax service that you do not use or require.

How the levy affects your bill

Councils must show how this precept affects you in your council tax bill. They should show what part of the overall bill is for the precept, and what part of the increase is for the precept.

Wiltshire Council has chosen to add the 2% precept to the Council Tax for 2024 to 2025. What this does NOT mean is that the part of the Council Tax bill going towards adult social care has increased by 2% compared to last year. It is not the precept that has gone up by 2% for social care, but the overall bill. This is a little misleading, but it is the way that central government suggest that it should be calculated and shown.

For example the 2% increase is not just on top of the social care levy for last year (£225.88 at band D), but on top of the whole Wiltshire Council charge for last year £1,494.02 + £225.88 = £1,719.90 x 2% = £34.40. Therefore £225.88 + £34.40 = £260.28, really a 15.2% increase.

How we ensure the levy is spent on adult social care

As part of the process of setting our budget, the Chief Finance Officer is required to confirm, in writing to the government, that we will use the adult social care levy, and that the budget for adult social care has increased from what it otherwise would have been by at least the amount raised from this levy.