Council tax bills across the North East are rising by around 5% this year, as MPs complain that the “regressive” charges are in need of reform.
Most local authorities in our region are imposing a 4.99% rise in council tax bills for the 2025/26 year, including a 2% precept ringfenced for social care costs, which is the maximum amount allowed without triggering a referendum.
The increases come after more than a decade of significant budget cuts at town halls across the country and as demand for services escalates, with particular concern about meeting care bills for adults and children.
In a debate in the House of Commons on Wednesday evening, Labour MPs from our region called for a major overhaul of the council tax system.
Hartlepool’s Jonathan Brash branded the current scheme “the most unfair, most regressive, and most punitive” taxation system in England, charging people in more deprived areas more for an average family home than those in wealthier parts of the country are for a multi-million pound property, while Easington MP Grahame Morris called it “fundamentally flawed”.
MPs heard how a resident of a Band A property in Westminster would pay £648 per year compared to £1,585 in Hartlepool, while a Band H household can expect to pay nearly £3,000 more in the seaside town.
Mr Brash called for a “proportional property tax” based on actual property values, rather than the bandings laid down in 1991, which would “radically rebalance the system” and leave some 70% of North East households better off.
Analysis released by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) this week claimed that households in the North East will pay £444 more in council tax in 2025/26 than those in Greater London.
However, that suggestion is somewhat misleading as it is based on the rates paid by Band D households – when the significant majority of properties in our region actually sit in the lower Band A to C groupings, while areas like Westminster have a higher proportion of more valuable properties that are charged the highest rates.
In Newcastle, for example, out of a total 140,644 taxable households there are 77,741 in Band A. More than 85% of the city’s households fall in the Band A to C categories.
Below are details of each council tax band’s bill for the 2025/26 year in the seven council areas across Tyne and Wear, Northumberland, and County Durham.
The figures include the additional precepts charged by fire services and police and crime commissioners, but not those levied in areas with town or parish councils.
Local authorities also offer council tax reduction schemes to support people on low income, while people who live alone are also entitled to a 25% discount.
North East council tax bills 2025/26
Newcastle (4.99% increase)
A – 1,607.73
B – 1,875.68
C – 2,143.64
D – 2,411.59
E – 2,947.50
F – 3,483.40
G – 4,019.32
H – 4,823.18
Gateshead (4.99% increase)
A – 1,718.78
B – 2,005.24
C – 2,291.71
D – 2,578.17
E – 3,151.10
F – 3,724.02
G – 4,296.95
H – 5,156.34
North Tyneside (4.99% increase)
A – 1,557.63
B – 1,817.24
C – 2,076.84
D – 2,336.45
E – 2,855.66
F – 3,374.87
G – 3,894.08
H – 4,672,90
South Tyneside (4.95% increase)
A – 1540.79
B – 1797.58
C – 2054.39
D – 2311.18
E – 2824.78
F – 3338.37
G – 3851.97
H – 4622.36
Sunderland (4.99% increase)
A – 1,394.62
B – 1,627.05
C – 1,859.50
D – 2,091.93
E – 2,556.81
F – 3,021.67
G – 3,486.55
H – 4,183.86
Northumberland (4.99% increase)
A – 1,577.89
B – 1,840.87
C – 2,103.86
D – 2,366.84
E – 2,892.81
F – 3,418.77
G – 3,944.73
H – 4,733.68
County Durham (4.99% increase)
A – 1,624.04
B – 1,894.71
C – 2,165.39
D – 2,436.06
E – 2,977.41
F – 3,518.75
G – 4,060.10
H – 4,872.12
Speaking in the Commons on Wednesday, Mr Brash said: “You can live in a multimillion-pound property in London and still pay less council tax than a terraced house in Hartlepool. It is not right. It is not fair. It must change.”
Mr Morris added: “In Blackhall in my constituency, someone living in a modest band A home worth £35,000 pays almost the same in council tax as a band H property in Belgravia worth many millions of pounds. That is indefensible.”
However, local government minister Jim McMahon replied: “The Government has ruled out a re-evaluation of council tax within this parliament, and so that means that we must find other ways to readdress the discrepancies of tax-raising ability through other means.”
