Band D is £2,443.25 in Northampton Town Council's area, £2,545.28 in Duston and £2,398.19 in West Hunsbury. The A to H table for all 13 parish areas.
There is no single Northampton council tax bill. The town is divided into 13 parish and town council areas, and a band D home pays anywhere between £2,398.19 and £2,545.28 depending on which one it sits in. That is a spread of £147.09 a year across one town.
Below is the full band A to H charge for every one of those areas for 2026/27, what the bill is actually made of, and what changed this year. Every figure comes from West Northamptonshire Council’s own council tax directory and from the council tax resolution it approved on 26 February 2026.
Northampton band D charges, 2026/27
| Parish area | Band D |
|---|---|
| Duston | £2,545.28 |
| Wootton | £2,531.26 |
| East Hunsbury | £2,514.77 |
| Collingtree | £2,482.73 |
| Great Houghton | £2,477.72 |
| Billing | £2,474.89 |
| Kingsthorpe | £2,452.32 |
| Northampton Town Council | £2,443.25 |
| Far Cotton and Delapre | £2,440.29 |
| Hardingstone | £2,435.89 |
| Hunsbury Meadows | £2,419.36 |
| Upton | £2,416.28 |
| West Hunsbury | £2,398.19 |
Most of the built-up town, including the town centre, Abington and Weston Favell, sits in the Northampton Town Council area at £2,443.25. If you are not sure which parish you are in, the council’s council tax charges page lists all 165 areas in the district.
The full A to H table
These are the 2026/27 charges for the four largest Northampton parish areas by tax base. Every band is a fixed statutory fraction of band D, so the pattern is the same everywhere; only the band D figure moves.
| Band | Northampton Town | Duston | Kingsthorpe | East Hunsbury |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | £1,628.83 | £1,696.86 | £1,634.88 | £1,676.52 |
| B | £1,900.30 | £1,979.66 | £1,907.36 | £1,955.92 |
| C | £2,171.77 | £2,262.47 | £2,179.84 | £2,235.35 |
| D | £2,443.25 | £2,545.28 | £2,452.32 | £2,514.77 |
| E | £2,986.20 | £3,110.90 | £2,997.28 | £3,073.62 |
| F | £3,529.14 | £3,676.51 | £3,542.24 | £3,632.44 |
| G | £4,072.08 | £4,242.14 | £4,087.20 | £4,191.29 |
| H | £4,886.50 | £5,090.56 | £4,904.64 | £5,029.54 |
The other nine Northampton areas follow the same pattern. Take the band D figure from the table at the top of this page and apply the fractions: band A is two-thirds of band D, band B is seven-ninths, band C eight-ninths, band E eleven-ninths, band F thirteen-ninths, band G five-thirds and band H double.
What the bill is made of
Four or five separate charges make up one band D bill. The council’s 2026/27 council tax resolution sets them out:
| Element | Band D | What it pays for |
|---|---|---|
| West Northamptonshire Council | £1,953.88 | Everything the unitary council runs, including adult social care |
| Special expenses | £0 to £26.40 | Maintenance of smaller parks and open spaces in your parish |
| Parish or town council | £18.03 to £158.49 in Northampton | Whatever your parish council provides |
| Police | £335.04 | Northamptonshire Police |
| Fire | £90.39 | Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service |
The council element and the two precepts are identical everywhere in the district. Only the parish precept and special expenses vary, which is where the £147 spread across Northampton comes from. Duston’s parish precept alone is £158.49 at band D. West Hunsbury’s is £18.03.
Special expenses is the line most people have never heard of. West Northamptonshire charges it for the upkeep of smaller parks and open spaces, because some parish councils maintain their own and raise the money through their precept instead. The parks are not evenly spread, so the charge is not either. In Northampton it runs from nothing at all in Upton and Hunsbury Meadows to £26.40 in East Hunsbury. Northampton Town Council’s area pays £12.74 and the district average is £5.52.
What changed this year
Three separate authorities put their prices up, and the fire service put it up hardest.
- West Northamptonshire Council: up 4.95 per cent. The band D charge went from £1,866.98 to £1,959.40 including average special expenses, a rise of £92.42. The council split it as a 2.95 per cent rise in the main element plus a 2 per cent adult social care precept. Legislation makes it print the figure to the nearest 0.1 per cent, so your bill says 5.0 per cent.
- Police: up £15, or 4.69 per cent, to £335.04 at band D. That is the maximum a commissioner may add without a referendum.
- Fire: up £10, or 12.44 per cent, to £90.39 at band D. The commissioner had asked for £12 and was granted flexibility to go beyond the £5 national recommendation, which still leaves a funding gap of around £300,000.
One change to the bill itself is easy to miss. The adult social care precept no longer appears as a separate line. Government removed the requirement, so the council’s element is now shown as one figure, as the council explains. The money is still being collected; it is just no longer itemised.
Parish councils are not capped and can raise their requirement by whatever they choose. If yours has gone up by more than 4.99 per cent, that is why.
Where the money goes
West Northamptonshire will spend a net £464.3 million on day-to-day services in 2026/27, excluding the schools grant. Its own breakdown of every £1 spent:
| Service | Net budget | Per £1 |
|---|---|---|
| Adult social care | £164.2m | 35p |
| Northamptonshire Children’s Trust | £105.5m | 23p |
| Highways and transport | £37.8m | 8p |
| Central and technical budgets | £37.2m | 8p |
| Waste services | £35.3m | 7p |
| Central support services | £32.5m | 7p |
| Assets and environment | £18.1m | 4p |
| Communities and opportunities | £13.6m | 3p |
| Education services | £9.3m | 2p |
| Other direct services | £7m | 2p |
| Planning and place shaping | £3.8m | 1p |
Council tax funds around two-thirds of that total. Adult social care and children’s services together take 58p in every pound.
Checking and challenging your band
Bands were set on what a property would have sold for on 1 April 1991, not on what it is worth now. The bands are:
| Band | 1991 value |
|---|---|
| A | Up to £40,000 |
| B | £40,001 to £52,000 |
| C | £52,001 to £68,000 |
| D | £68,001 to £88,000 |
| E | £88,001 to £120,000 |
| F | £120,001 to £160,000 |
| G | £160,001 to £320,000 |
| H | Over £320,000 |
Look up your band, and check whether you can ask for a review, through the Valuation Office Agency. If you cannot use the online service, call the VOA on 03000 501 501, Monday to Friday between 9:30am and 4:30pm.
Two things to be clear about. Your rights of appeal against a band are limited, usually to the first six months of becoming liable or where something material has changed. And an appeal does not let you stop paying. Recovery action continues, and if you win the VOA tells the council directly and you get a full refund of the overpayment.
Discounts, reductions and premiums
The reductions most Northampton households qualify for:
- Single occupier: 25 per cent off if you are the only adult resident.
- All residents disregarded: 50 per cent off. Some people are not counted when the adults in a household are added up. The list includes full-time students, student nurses, apprentices and carers on low pay. It also covers people in prison, people who are severely mentally impaired, permanent care home residents and people housed under the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme.
- Students only: properties occupied solely by students are exempt.
- Disability reduction: if a disabled resident needs an extra room, an extra bathroom or kitchen, or uses a wheelchair indoors, you are billed one band lower. A band A property gets a reduction of one ninth of the band D charge.
- Care leavers: most pay nothing until they turn 21 under a discretionary discount the council introduced on 1 April 2024.
- Annexes: 50 per cent off where used by family or as part of the main home.
- Council Tax Reduction: means-tested help for low-income households, assessed on income, savings and household size.
Premiums cut the other way:
- Second homes are charged a 100 per cent premium from 1 April 2025, on top of the full bill. A job-related second home gets a 50 per cent discount instead.
- Empty and unfurnished for a year: 100 per cent premium. After five years it rises to 200 per cent. Empty annexes and armed forces homes are excluded.
- There is no discount at all for holiday homes or property empty pending repair.
If your circumstances change and it affects a discount, tell the council within 21 days. Failing to do so can bring a penalty or prosecution.
Bills are normally spread over ten instalments from April to January. You can ask for twelve, running to March, when your bill arrives.
Also on The Northampton Wire
- Northampton bin collection days, including the move to three-weekly black bins
- Parking in Northampton, and the April charges the council is still refunding
- Northampton house prices, from Land Registry sold prices
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