Wandsworth Council has proposed a record-breaking 94 per cent increase in council tax from April 2027, blaming government funding reforms it says will strip the borough of £84 million a year. The move would add £958 to the average Band D bill, in what would be one of the largest single council tax rises in London’s history.
The Conservative-run south London borough — which has long boasted one of the lowest council tax rates in the country — says it has been left with no choice after a “comprehensive” spending review. Council leader Robert Morritt, who took over the role in July, said the rise was a decision he had never wanted to take, but that residents were being given maximum notice to adjust.
An £84 million funding gap
At the heart of the dispute are the government’s Fair Funding 2.0 reforms, which recalculate how funding is distributed between local authorities. Wandsworth says the changes will reduce its central funding by £84 million a year — an amount the council says is equivalent to its combined annual spending on parks, libraries, leisure centres, bin collection and street cleaning.
In a statement on the council’s own website, Mr Morritt said: “Wandsworth residents deserve a fairer deal. Our core government funding has been cut and these changes will see Wandsworth’s funding fall by £84m, equivalent to 40% by 2029.”
He added: “The financial challenges we face are not of our making. Years of central government cuts, combined with the difficult financial position inherited by this administration, mean hard choices are inevitable.”
The council argues that the funding formula works against boroughs like Wandsworth because ministers calculate each authority’s revenue-raising power using a notional council tax rate close to the national average — rather than the much lower rates actually charged locally. Wandsworth’s own Band D charge set by the council is £509.84, a fraction of the £2,060 assumed by the government, the council says.
How bills could change
A Band D property in Wandsworth currently pays £1,020.35 a year in total: £509.84 set by the borough and £510.51 as the Greater London Authority precept set by the Mayor of London. The proposed increase would raise the council’s portion by £958 from April 2027.
Ordinarily, councils cannot raise bills by more than 5 per cent a year without holding a local referendum. But ministers have given six authorities — Wandsworth, Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster, Hammersmith and Fulham, the City of London, and Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire — special powers to raise council tax above the cap for two years, following the reduction in central funding.
Peter Graham, the council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for finance, said the administration had promised to be honest with residents. “Council tax will need to rise unless government thinks again. And it must think again,” he said. “We do not want to do this, and we do not take this decision lightly, but the scale of the financial pressure facing Wandsworth means additional income is now needed to protect the services people rely on.”
Mr Graham insisted the council was “fighting” for a “fairer deal”, adding that Wandsworth should not be “punished” for “running efficient services and keeping council tax low”.
Political row
The proposal has drawn a furious response from the opposition. Simon Hogg, the Labour leader of the opposition on the council, told The Times: “Wandsworth Conservatives have decided to double your council tax. It’s outrageous, it is stunning. People who don’t know how to run the council panicking and making you pay the price. This increase is unfair, it’s unnecessary and we oppose it.”
A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government defended the reforms, saying they were needed to overhaul an “outdated” system. “We have consulted extensively on reforming the outdated council funding system to ensure money goes where it is most needed,” the spokesman said, adding that transitional arrangements were protecting councils so “no area faces a cliff edge”.
Challenge under the Sustainable Communities Act
Wandsworth, alongside Westminster City Council and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, is consulting on plans to use the Sustainable Communities Act to challenge the government’s proposals. The Act gives local authorities a formal route to ask ministers to remove barriers to the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of their communities.
The three councils estimate the funding reforms will cost them a combined £292 million. They warn of “significant consequences” for communities and pressure on essential local services.
Mr Morritt said he had written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and other senior ministers to press the case, arguing: “It cannot be right that Wandsworth contributes so much to the national economy and tax base yet receives significantly less in return than many other parts of the country.”
The council has launched a resident engagement survey to help inform decisions about spending and services, and says the final decision on the increase will not be taken until early next year. Mr Morritt told Sky News the announcement was being made now to ensure “local people have the maximum amount of time to adjust”.
