A band D bill in unparished Bromsgrove is £2,439.70, up £172.79. The district's share rose 2.99%, the county went to 8.98%, above the referendum cap.
Bromsgrove District Council raised its own share of the council tax by 2.99% this year, which is below the referendum limit and unremarkable. The bill that landed on the doormat went up by 7.62%.
The gap is Worcestershire County Council. The county raised its precept by 8.98%, well above the 4.99% maximum that normally triggers a referendum, and it did so with government permission. In its own words: part of the increase “will be funded by Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) with a total of £59.9 million from a capitalisation directive and £14.4 million from the additional increase in council tax above the 4.99% maximum”.
The county calls it £2.79 a week for a band D property. Across the four precepting bodies it works out at £172.79 more a year for an unparished Bromsgrove household at band D.
| Precept | 2025/26 | 2026/27 | Change | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Worcestershire County Council | £1,615.71 | £1,760.80 | +£145.09 | +8.98% |
| Police and Crime Commissioner for West Mercia | £291.50 | £306.50 | +£15.00 | +5.15% |
| Hereford & Worcester Fire & Rescue Authority | £102.22 | £107.22 | +£5.00 | +4.89% |
| Bromsgrove District Council | £257.48 | £265.18 | +£7.70 | +2.99% |
| Total, unparished Bromsgrove | £2,266.91 | £2,439.70 | +£172.79 | +7.62% |
Sources: Bromsgrove District Council, How much is my Council Tax and its 2025/2026 charges; Worcestershire County Council, Council Tax and budgets.
Note how little of the bill the council whose name is on it actually keeps. Bromsgrove District Council takes 10.9% of a band D bill, £265.18 out of £2,439.70. Worcestershire County Council takes 72.2%, the West Mercia police precept 12.6% and the fire authority 4.4%.
The full band table, unparished Bromsgrove
Bromsgrove and Rubery are the parts of the district with no parish or town council, which the council confirmed when it opened an engagement exercise on local governance in July 2026. Households there pay the four precepts below and nothing else. Every other part of the district adds a parish precept on top.
| Precept | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Worcestershire County Council | 1,173.87 | 1,369.51 | 1,565.16 | 1,760.80 | 2,152.09 | 2,543.38 | 2,934.67 | 3,521.60 |
| West Mercia PCC | 204.33 | 238.39 | 272.44 | 306.50 | 374.61 | 442.72 | 510.83 | 613.00 |
| Hereford & Worcester Fire | 71.48 | 83.39 | 95.31 | 107.22 | 131.05 | 154.87 | 178.70 | 214.44 |
| Bromsgrove District Council | 176.79 | 206.25 | 235.72 | 265.18 | 324.11 | 383.04 | 441.97 | 530.36 |
| Total | 1,626.47 | 1,897.54 | 2,168.63 | 2,439.70 | 2,981.86 | 3,524.01 | 4,066.17 | 4,879.40 |
All figures in pounds. Every column adds up exactly.
Every parish, band A to H
| Parish | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bromsgrove (unparished) | 1,626.47 | 1,897.54 | 2,168.63 | 2,439.70 | 2,981.86 | 3,524.01 | 4,066.17 | 4,879.40 |
| Alvechurch | 1,702.37 | 1,986.09 | 2,269.83 | 2,553.55 | 3,121.01 | 3,688.46 | 4,255.92 | 5,107.10 |
| Barnt Green | 1,680.07 | 1,960.07 | 2,240.10 | 2,520.10 | 3,080.13 | 3,640.14 | 4,200.17 | 5,040.20 |
| Belbroughton and Fairfield | 1,668.94 | 1,947.08 | 2,225.25 | 2,503.40 | 3,059.72 | 3,616.02 | 4,172.34 | 5,006.80 |
| Bentley Pauncefoot | 1,651.81 | 1,927.10 | 2,202.42 | 2,477.71 | 3,028.32 | 3,578.91 | 4,129.52 | 4,955.42 |
| Beoley | 1,651.68 | 1,926.96 | 2,202.25 | 2,477.52 | 3,028.08 | 3,578.64 | 4,129.20 | 4,955.04 |
| Bournheath | 1,679.14 | 1,958.98 | 2,238.85 | 2,518.70 | 3,078.42 | 3,638.12 | 4,197.84 | 5,037.40 |
| Catshill and North Marlbrook | 1,642.58 | 1,916.33 | 2,190.11 | 2,463.86 | 3,011.39 | 3,558.91 | 4,106.44 | 4,927.72 |
| Clent | 1,684.31 | 1,965.02 | 2,245.75 | 2,526.46 | 3,087.90 | 3,649.33 | 4,210.77 | 5,052.92 |
| Cofton Hackett | 1,666.82 | 1,944.61 | 2,222.43 | 2,500.22 | 3,055.83 | 3,611.43 | 4,167.04 | 5,000.44 |
| Dodford with Grafton | 1,651.36 | 1,926.57 | 2,201.81 | 2,477.03 | 3,027.49 | 3,577.93 | 4,128.39 | 4,954.06 |
| Finstall | 1,653.47 | 1,929.04 | 2,204.63 | 2,480.20 | 3,031.36 | 3,582.51 | 4,133.67 | 4,960.40 |
| Frankley | 1,662.36 | 1,939.41 | 2,216.48 | 2,493.53 | 3,047.65 | 3,601.76 | 4,155.89 | 4,987.06 |
| Hagley | 1,684.12 | 1,964.80 | 2,245.50 | 2,526.18 | 3,087.56 | 3,648.93 | 4,210.30 | 5,052.36 |
| Hunnington | 1,673.07 | 1,951.91 | 2,230.76 | 2,509.60 | 3,067.29 | 3,624.98 | 4,182.67 | 5,019.20 |
| Lickey and Blackwell | 1,645.15 | 1,919.33 | 2,193.54 | 2,467.72 | 3,016.11 | 3,564.48 | 4,112.87 | 4,935.44 |
| Romsley | 1,687.38 | 1,968.61 | 2,249.85 | 2,531.07 | 3,093.53 | 3,655.99 | 4,218.45 | 5,062.14 |
| Stoke | 1,649.68 | 1,924.61 | 2,199.57 | 2,474.51 | 3,024.41 | 3,574.29 | 4,124.19 | 4,949.02 |
| Tutnall and Cobley | 1,639.24 | 1,912.44 | 2,185.66 | 2,458.86 | 3,005.28 | 3,551.69 | 4,098.10 | 4,917.72 |
| Wythall | 1,668.58 | 1,946.66 | 2,224.77 | 2,502.86 | 3,059.06 | 3,615.24 | 4,171.44 | 5,005.72 |
All figures in pounds, for the 2026/27 year, from Bromsgrove District Council’s current charges table.
Alvechurch is the dearest place in the district to live, at £2,553.55 for band D. Tutnall and Cobley is the cheapest, at £2,458.86. The £94.69 between them is entirely parish precept: the four larger precepts are identical everywhere in the district.
What the parishes did this year
Take the unparished total off each parish figure and you are left with the parish precept alone. Compared like for like against last year, the picture is not uniform.
| Parish | 2025/26 | 2026/27 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cofton Hackett | £50.58 | £60.52 | +19.7% |
| Wythall | £55.90 | £63.16 | +13.0% |
| Hunnington | £62.84 | £69.90 | +11.2% |
| Alvechurch | £102.81 | £113.85 | +10.7% |
| Dodford with Grafton | £33.74 | £37.33 | +10.6% |
| Catshill and North Marlbrook | £22.03 | £24.16 | +9.7% |
| Lickey and Blackwell | £25.64 | £28.02 | +9.3% |
| Hagley | £80.69 | £86.48 | +7.2% |
| Barnt Green | £75.47 | £80.40 | +6.5% |
| Belbroughton and Fairfield | £60.22 | £63.70 | +5.8% |
| Bournheath | £75.82 | £79.00 | +4.2% |
| Romsley | £87.78 | £91.37 | +4.1% |
| Beoley | £36.39 | £37.82 | +3.9% |
| Stoke | £33.61 | £34.81 | +3.6% |
| Bentley Pauncefoot | £36.76 | £38.01 | +3.4% |
| Frankley | £52.63 | £53.83 | +2.3% |
| Clent | £87.35 | £86.76 | -0.7% |
| Finstall | £40.81 | £40.50 | -0.8% |
| Tutnall and Cobley | £19.65 | £19.16 | -2.5% |
Calculated from the council’s own 2025/26 and 2026/27 band D charges. Three parishes cut their precept: Tutnall and Cobley, Finstall and Clent. Cofton Hackett put its up by nearly a fifth, though on a small base, and the increase is under £10 a year at band D.
A parish precept is not capped by the referendum rules that bind the district and the county, which is why these percentages range so widely.
The council publishes budget figures for the three parishes that raise more than £140,000 a year. Alvechurch Parish Council’s council tax requirement actually fell, from £271,310 to £246,280, while its gross expenditure rose. Hagley’s requirement went from £260,400 to £280,000 and Wythall’s from £271,000 to £305,000 (how your council tax is spent).
Checking and challenging your band
Bands are set by the Valuation Office Agency, not the council, and they are based on what the property was worth on 1 April 1991. Nothing since then changes the band.
- Look yours up on GOV.UK, check your council tax band.
- Challenge it through the VOA, not the council.
- If the VOA changes it, Bromsgrove is notified automatically and reissues the bill. There is no need to contact the council yourself.
Discounts and support
- Single person discount is 25%. Income and savings do not affect eligibility. It also applies if the only other adult is a child over 18 you still claim child benefit for.
- Full-time students are not liable, and a household where everyone is a full-time student pays nothing.
- Apprentices, carers, people with a severe mental impairment, and people in prison or on remand are disregarded, and there are separate disability reductions.
- Empty and unfurnished: a 100% discount for the first 30 days only. From day 31 the full charge applies.
- Undergoing major repair or structural alteration: 100% discount for up to 12 months, running from when the property first became vacant. If you buy a house that is already vacant and in need of repair, the clock may already have run out.
- Second homes get no discount at all. Bromsgrove has used its discretion to set it at zero, so a furnished second home pays the full charge. Unoccupied caravans and boats, and homes left empty because an employer requires you to live elsewhere, keep a 50% discount.
The long-term empty premiums are steep and they attach to the property, not the owner, so buying an empty house means inheriting the premium:
- Empty 1 to 5 years: 100% premium, so double the bill.
- Empty 5 to 10 years: 200% premium.
- Empty 10 years or more: 300% premium.
Council Tax Support for working-age residents is an income-banded scheme. The discount is 100%, 80%, 55%, 30% or nothing, set by net weekly income and household type. A single person on £130 a week or less gets the full 100%; above £214 a week there is no award. A couple with two or more children gets 100% up to £333 a week and nothing above £451 (banded scheme). Pension-age claims are assessed the old way. The benefits team is on 01527 881213.
Two changes coming to this bill
Bromsgrove District Council will not exist by 2028. The government confirmed on 16 July 2026 that from 1 April 2028 Worcestershire’s seven borough, city, district and county councils will be replaced by two unitary councils, one for North Worcestershire and one for South (council statement). The district and county lines on the bill above have a known end date, and the new authority will set a single charge covering the area.
The unparished areas may not stay unparished. With reorganisation coming, the council ran an early engagement exercise in July and August 2026 asking Bromsgrove and Rubery residents whether a formal Community Governance Review should be explored. The council stressed that no decisions have been made (announcement, 3 July 2026). If a town or parish council were created, a precept would follow, and on the range above that would be somewhere between about £19 and £114 a year at band D.
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