Council Tax bands and rates

How your council tax bill is made up

Your council tax bill is made up of several different amounts of money that go to different organisations:

• Peterborough City Council
• Your parish council (in some areas only)
• Police and Crime Commissioner for Cambridgeshire
• Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority
• Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority

How your council tax is split between authorities based on a Band D property:

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) precept is new for 2023/24. For more information, please visit the council tax page on the CPCA website.

Council tax valuation bands

• Band A = Up to £40,000
• Band B = £40,000.01 to £52,000
• Band C = £52,000.01 to £68,000
• Band D = £68,000.01 to £88,000
• Band E = £88,000.01 to £120,000
• Band F = £120,000.01 to £160,000
• Band G = £160,000.01 to £320,000
• Band H = More than £320,000

Peterborough City Council element

Peterborough City Council, at the Full Council meeting on 22 February 2023, in accordance with Section 30(2) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, set the amount of council tax for the year 2023/24 for homes across the city.

The Peterborough City Council element of your bill is made up of two parts:

• General council tax used for all council services, including highway maintenance, children and adult social care, housing, waste management and recycling, libraries and many other services
• The adult social care ‘precept’, which specifically goes towards the rising cost of adult social care services (ASC)

Our council tax increase in council tax for this year is 4.99% (due to rounding this appears as 5% on your bill).

How your money is spent

For 2023/24, the council has set an overall gross budget of £469.2m. The figures below show broadly how we plan to spend our gross budget on services, and where the money comes from:

• £125m - Schools
• £38.7m - Housing Benefit
• £93.8m - Adult Social Care
• £22.7m - Children's Social Care
• £44.5m - Communities, Parking and Regulatory Services
• £11.6m - Public Health
• £6.7m - Highways maintenance
• £19.2m - Waste disposal and street cleaning
• £2.2m - Parks and open spaces
• £3.4m - Recreation, culture, leisure and libraries
• £30.4m - Capital financing
• £9.2m - Regeneration, planning and environmental services
• £5.8m - Housing
• £1.8m - Cemeteries, Crematorium and registrars
• £54.2m - Support charges including pensions, property, legal and democratic, finance, HR, customer services and other

Total expenditure = £469.2m

Where the money comes from

• £97.6m - Council Tax
• £71m - Business Rates
• £12.1m - Revenue Support Grant
• £51.7m - Other Grants
• £38.6m - Housing Benefit (Grant)
• £110.1m - Dedicated Schools Grant
• £35.3m - Fees and Charges
• £52.8m - Other Income

Total income = £469.2m

Council tax increase limit

The Government limits the amount that councils can increase council tax by without holding a local referendum.

• The limit is currently 3%. That is why many councils, including Peterborough City Council, have increased general council tax by 2.99% to be under the referendum limit
• The Government also allows councils to raise a 2% adult social care precept to help relieve funding pressures

The council tax rate per valuation band:

Band A
General council tax - 2.99% = £919.09
Adult Social Care precept - 2% = £138.96
Total council tax charge = £1,058.05

Band B
General council tax - 2.99% = £1,072.28
Adult Social Care precept - 2% = £162.12
Total council tax charge = £1,234.40

Band C
General council tax - 2.99% = £1,225.46
Adult Social Care precept - 2% = £185.28
Total council tax charge = £1,410.74

Band D
General council tax - 2.99% = £1,378.64
Adult Social Care precept - 2% = £208.44
Total council tax charge = £1,587.08

Band E
General council tax - 2.99% = £1,685.00
Adult Social Care precept - 2% = £254.76
Total council tax charge = £1,939.76

Band F
General council tax - 2.99% = £1,991.37
Adult Social Care precept - 2% = £301.08
Total council tax charge = £2,292.45

Band G
General council tax - 2.99% = £2,297.73
Adult Social Care precept - 2% = £347.40
Total council tax charge = £2,645.13

Band H
General council tax - 2.99% = £2,757.28
Adult Social Care precept - 2% = £416.88
Total council tax charge = £3,174.16

The rates above show only the city council portion of your bill. The appropriate parish, Fire Authority, Police and Crime Commissioner and Combined Authority council tax elements will need to be added to give the total council tax charge.

Adult social care responsibilities

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 its expenditure on adult social care from the financial year 2016-17. It was originally made in respect of the financial years up to and including 2019-20. If the Secretary of State chooses to renew this offer in respect of a particular financial year, this is subject to the approval of the House of Commons.

As part of the Local Government Financial Settlement 2023/24, the Government announced that councils could charge up to an additional “precept” of 2% for 2023/24.

Peterborough City Council has increased the Adult Social Care Precept by the maximum allowed from 2016/17 to 2022/23. The council has increased the Adult Social Care Precept in 2023/24 by the maximum amount of 2%.

Police and Crime Commissioner for Cambridgeshire, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority, at its meeting on 10 February 2023, in accordance with Section 40 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, set its precepts for 2023/24.

The Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Panel, at its meeting on 2 February 2023, in accordance with Section 40 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, set its precepts for 2023/24.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, at its meeting on 25 January 2023, in accordance with Section 40 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, set its precept for 2023/24.

Budgets:

• View information about the Business Coordination Board on the Police and Crime Commissioner for Cambridgeshire's website
• View information on finance, budget and council tax on the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority website
• View information on the Mayoral General Precept on the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority website

Parish precepts

Your individual parish council will set a precept based on local decisions, therefore this element of your council tax bill will be different depending on your area. The individual parish precepts are detailed in the following table:

Parishes all set the precept that they charge, which forms part of the total council tax for that area. If a parish council requires a precept in excess of £140,000 to fund its spending plans, it has a statutory duty to publish details of its expenditure. 

Bretton Parish Council's budget for 2023/24 is available below.

Total council tax amounts summary

Total council tax amounts summary including:

• Peterborough City Council
• Police and Crime Commissioner for Cambridgeshire
• Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority
• Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority
• Parish precept

In accordance with Section 38(2) of the act, the amounts of council tax set for the year 2023/24 for each of the categories of dwellings are shown below:

Levies paid to other organisations by Peterborough City Council

Levies are statutory payments made to other organisations which are funded by local taxpayers.

The Environment Agency has powers in respect of flood and coastal erosion risk management for 2,292 kilometres of main river, and along tidal and sea defences in the area of the Anglian Northern Regional Flood and Coastal Committee. 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 and management of the risk of coastal erosion.

The majority of the funding for flood defences comes from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). However, under the new Partnership Funding rule not all schemes will attract full central funding. To provide local funding for local priorities and contributions for partnership funding the Regional Flood and Coastal Committees recommend through the Environment Agency a local levy.

A change in the gross budgeted expenditure between years reflects the programme of works for both capital and revenue needed by the Regional Flood and Coastal Committee to which you contribute. The total Local Levy raised by this committee has stayed the same.

Internal drainage boards manage an extensive network of watercourses, embankments, pumping stations and other water control assets within the local area in order to maintain water levels and mitigate the risk of flooding. Under the Land Drainage Act 1991 the boards can raise income from the areas for which they provide water level management to maintain and improve their assets, and this is partly achieved by a levy on local authorities.

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority is the area's statutory Transport Authority. The authority's focus is on leading the delivery of strategic transport schemes, transport planning and engaging with national and regional bodies, whilst delegating the passenger transport powers to Peterborough City Council and Cambridgeshire County Council.

Council Tax Leaflet 2023-24