Your Council Tax explained - 2025/26
The money we get from Council Tax helps pay for many local services like children and adult social services, waste and recycling collections, road maintenance, street lighting, schools, libraries and much more.
To find out what your Council Tax charge is based on and the amount you pay, visit our Council Tax charges and bands page.
You can also read a plain English guide to Council Tax on GOV.UK.
Navigate to:
- Introduction
- Council Tax and your bill
- Paying your Council Tax
- Viewing your details online and electronic billing
- Reporting changes in your circumstances
- Appeals
- Precepts
- The Council’s budget
- Council Tax to be collected
- The Environment Agency - flood defence levies
- Useful resources
Introduction
‘Where your money goes’ outlines important information about your Council Tax (and Business Rates) and how your money is used to deliver services in Swindon for the benefit of all residents.
We will spend more than £398 million on day-to-day services (excluding dedicated schools grant) and invest more than £62 million on capital projects and infrastructure schemes, like building new schools and maintaining our roads, in the coming year.
Balancing the budget has been a challenge due to the impact of the cost-of-living crisis, which means the council needs to pay more to deliver services, while demand for those services continues to grow.
The most vital frontline services that local people rely upon have been protected and we have set aside more money to help those who are also facing rising costs and to invest in priorities important to local communities.
Council Tax and your bill
Council Tax helps pay for local services such as police, fire, schools, roads, street lights, libraries, waste and recycling collection.
The amount of Council Tax you pay is based on the valuation band of your property and any discounts or exemptions that you may be entitled to.
In 2024/25 we increased Council Tax by 4.99% and now in 2025/26 we again need to increase our share by 4.99%, including a 2% increase for adult social care.
This is primarily due to the increasing demand for services, particularly for adult and children’s social care.
The Swindon Borough Council element of the Council Tax for a band D property for 2025/26 is £1,777.78, an increase of £84.50.
How your £1,777.78 is broken down to pay for the services we provide
Children’s Services
£686.78
Adults
£849.32
Waste and Recycling*
£137.27
Highways and Transport
£34.10
Stronger Safer Communities**
£34.88
Other services, support services and levies
£35.43
* Includes a small proportion of grounds maintenance.
** Includes Housing Services, Libraries, Revenues and Benefits, and Public Health.
Council Tax average band D - with precepts added from the Wiltshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Authority, and all 20 parishes, the average 2025/26 total Council Tax for a band D property is £2,317.63.
Your Council Tax bill explained
Download Council Tax bill explained (PDF)
Paying your Council Tax
There are several ways you can pay your Council Tax. You can find out more on our Pay your Council Tax page. Direct Debit is the recommended method as it saves you having to remember each month.
If you are struggling to pay, please note that help is available.
Council Tax reduction and Housing Benefit enquiries
Council Tax Support is a scheme to help those on a low income to get help to pay their Council Tax.
If you need help with Council Tax reduction or Housing Benefit, you can call 0345 302 2316.
Discounts and exemptions
In some circumstances you may be entitled to a discount or exemption. You can find out more on our Council Tax discounts or Council Tax exemptions pages.
Viewing your details online and electronic billing
You will need your reference key and billing number from your latest bill to view your details online. These can be found on the front of your bill.
You will be able to view account details (including payments made), set up or amend Direct Debits, ask for an e-bill rather than a printed copy and update your contact details.
To set this up, visit the View your Council Tax account page.
Reporting changes in your circumstances
Please note: It is your responsibility to tell us immediately about any changes that may affect the amount of Housing Benefit, Council Tax exemption, discount, or reduction you get.
You are committing an offence if you deliberately fail to tell us about a change in your circumstances.
Appeals
There are two areas for appeal, either against the valuation band or against a decision made by the Council in any of the following circumstances:
- you disagree that you are the person liable to pay Council Tax
- you think your property should be exempt from Council Tax
- you think you should be entitled to a reduction for people with disabilities
- you think you should be entitled to a personal discount
Find out more about how to appeal on our Council Tax liability appeals page. You still need to pay your Council Tax whilst waiting for the appeal decision.
Precepts
Your Council Tax bill also collects precepts for adult social care, the police and fire services as well as on behalf of town and parish councils.
Adult social care precept
The adult social care precept allows councils who provide social care to adults to charge an additional amount for Council Tax.
The precept is not linked to whether or not taxpayers receive social care services. If you already pay for care services, the precept does not replace these charges.
Emergency services
In 2025/26 Wiltshire Police and Crime Commissioner charges have increased by 5.20% (or £14.00 on an average band D property).
Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Authority charges have increased by 5.75% (or £5.00 on an average band D property).
You can read more about how this money is spent on the following websites:
Town and parish councils
There are now 20 town and parish councils in Swindon, with all areas now parished.
Town and parish councils set their budgets independently. The average increase for 2025/26 is 10.83% with the increases ranging from minus 1% to 31%.
Town and parish councils spending more than £100,000
A list of the individual parish precepts, giving context to how we have calculated Council Tax bills for this year, can be viewed below:
Business Rates (or non-domestic rates)
Business Rates (or non-domestic rates) are taxes paid on properties to help towards the cost of local council services.
Business Rates retention arrangements allow authorities to keep a proportion of the local Business Rates. This helps pay for the services provided by the local authority in your area.
For more information visit our Business Rates section.
There is also information about the Business Rates system on GOV.UK.
The Council’s budget
For 2025/26, the Council is increasing its share of the general Council Tax by 2.99% and 2% for adult social care, in line with Government limits.
The Council has a gross budget of £692 million, which includes £284.3 million Dedicated Schools Grant, which is passported directly to schools. After taking into account income from fees and charges for services, this leaves a net budget of £188.4 million, which is funded from the following sources:
- 3% from Government grants
- 75% will come from Council Tax payers (including the 2.99% Council Tax increase ring fenced for adult social care)
- 22% from Business Rate payers
We will spend this funding on the following services:
- 47% on supporting vulnerable adults
- 39% on supporting vulnerable children and families
- 8% on waste and recycling and some grounds maintenance
- 2% on highways and transport
- 2% on stronger and safer communities
- 2% on other services and support services
The 2025/26 budget also includes:
- savings plans of £14.4 million
- Exceptional Financial Support of £14.6 million. This allows the Council to use its own money generated from sales of assets to pay for some revenue costs, which is not normally allowed.
- borrowing charges of £21 million related to the delivery of capital projects
There are further planned savings of £18.4 million through 2026/27 and 2027/28.
For further information, read the following reports:
- Revenue report (PDF)
- Capital report (PDF)
Council Tax to be collected
The Council Tax report (PDF) sets out our charges for 2025/26, including those charges collected on behalf of police, fire and parishes.
- Appendix 1 (PDF) of the report sets out the total charges for each area of the Borough.
- Appendix 2 (PDF) sets out the parish charges for 2025/26 compared with 2024/25.
The Environment Agency - flood defence levies
We pay a flood defence levy of £187,855 to three regional flood committees of the Environment Agency.
The Environment Agency is a levying body for its Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management functions under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 and the Environment Agency (Levies) (England and Wales) Regulations 2011.
Flood defence money is spent on the construction of new flood defence schemes, the maintenance of the river system and existing flood defences together with the operation of a flood warning system.
The majority of funding for flood defence comes directly from the Government, but where there are schemes that do not attract central funding, the agency raises income in the form of a local levy.
The local levy is shared on the basis of the equivalent number of band D dwellings between all contributing bodies within the committee area.
Useful resources
- Council Tax explanatory notes 2025/26 (PDF)
- Council Tax property bands and charges by parish
- Publication scheme and open data catalogue