Thousands of households in England and Wales successfully got their council tax bills reduced – but it’s not without risk.
People who think that their home may be in the wrong council tax band can make an appeal to have it changed. Taxpayers can make an appeal to the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) who will investigate the matter and inform the taxpayer of the outcome. Bands can go up as well as down though, so deciding to appeal your council tax band is a decision not to be taken lightly.
A total of 43,820 appeals were made to the VOA in England and Wales between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2024. The majority of those (59%) saw the council tax band remain unchanged. A quarter of them – a total of 10,530 cases – saw the council tax band get reduced.Not everyone was so lucky. Thirty households had their council tax bands increased.
Official figures don’t reveal where these homes were, except that around ten were in the South East and another ten in the South West. Some parts of the country have been more successful with their appeals than others. Just over two thirds (67%) of appeals in Rossendale and Rushmoor saw the council tax band get decreased. Those are the joint highest rates in England and Wales.
In Wrexham the ratio was 57%, while in seven areas, 50% of all appeals ended in a reduction – Halton, Stockport, Oadby and Wigston, Lincoln, Mansfield, Blaenau Gwent, and Merthyr Tydfil. In Hounslow, however, just 5% – a total of 10 cases – saw the council tax band get decreased. In Leicester it was just 6% of cases, while in Barnet, Hillingdon, and Windsor and Maidenhead it was 7%.
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