How much will council tax increase by in weeks? Our interactive map reveals exact rate rises for millions of households

MILLIONS of households face paying more for council tax within weeks as the average bill is set to rise by 5% - or £106 a year.

A new interactive map reveals the new rates for council tax across the country.

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But some households face an increase of nearly 10% as struggling councils have been given permission to hike the essential bill by more.

The Sun's interactive map uses the latest data to reveal increases in your area.

For some areas shown in grey, the information was unavailable.

The data shows the average Band D property will increase by 5% to £2,171 a year.

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The national limit on how much council tax can be raised is set by the government every year, and comes into force from April.

Each local authority then decides if it will hike it to the maximum or not.

Bills will differ depending on which council band your property falls under, with more expensive properties required to pay more council tax.

Annual council tax increases remained below one per cent between 2010 and 2015, but rose to 5% for the first time in 2018/19.

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Four councils were given special permission to up bills by as much as 10%: Thurrock, Woking, Slough and Birmingham.

This could see the same annual bill increase by £206.50.

Those in Birmingham are now going to be faced with a soaring 9.3% bill as their 'bankrupt' local authority struggles to cope.

The average household will be forking out an extra £177.94 per year to accommodate the cash-strapped council.

Communities Secretary, Michael Gove, has even allowed Birmingham Council to increase the tax up to a whopping 21% over the next two years.

Elsewhere in the country, people in Slough are due to be hit by a 7.9% leap from next month.

It follows the council officials declaring themselves in an eye-watering £430million worth of debt.

Meanwhile Thurrock residents will see a 7.5% hike after the council admitted to owing £1.5billion.

And, in Croydon, London, the authority has been allowed to up its yearly council tax up to 15%.

'NECESSARY DECISION'

The capital's average hike for households will be 5%, to £1,422 a financial year.

Metropolitan districts outside London will see an average annual increase of 5.4% to £1,837, while bills in unitary counties with no districts will rise 5% to £1,886.

Meanwhile, the average bill in other county areas will increase by 5% to £1,643, with districts in these areas adding an additional £266.

Sam Corcoran, leader of Cheshire East Council and vice-chairman of the County Councils Network (CCN), said: "County authorities face a £1.1billion budget shortfall over the next two years.

"With council tax now accounting for two-thirds of the average county authority's funding, we have little choice but to take the difficult but necessary decision to raise council tax by 4.99% to continue to protect services and ward off the threat of financial insolvency in the future."

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And Roger Gough, Conservative leader of Kent County Council and CCN's spokesman for children's services, said: "This month's Budget confirmed that the public finances remain extremely tight.

"Therefore we need to have an honest discussion with all main political parties as we head into the general election on what councils can reasonably be expected to deliver, in a climate where substantive extra funds are unlikely and both demand and costs are set to rise."

Shaun Davies, Labour chairman of the Local Government Association, explained how councils have made the "difficult choice" to raise bills because they "desperately need funding".

He added that it would be "unsustainable" not to hike prices as the cost of living and pressure on services continue to increase.

Meanwhile, a Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson added they have announced £600million in support packages for council across England.

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They also stated they will be increasing the yearly fund by 7.5% - £64.7billion.

"Councils are responsible for their own finances and set council tax levels, but we have been clear they should be mindful of cost-of-living pressures," they added.

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