The full A to H table for Hammersmith and Fulham, with the council and City Hall shares split out. Band D is £1,519.51, the fourth lowest bill in England.
A band D home in Fulham pays £1,519.51 in council tax this year. That is the fourth lowest bill in England, and about £870 below the English average of £2,392.
Hammersmith and Fulham sets the bill in two parts. It keeps £1,009.00 of a band D charge and passes £510.51 to the Greater London Authority. There are no parish precepts anywhere in the borough, and this year the adult social care precept is folded into the council’s own figure rather than shown as a separate line.
Below is the full band A to H table, what changed this year, three errors in the council’s own published table, and the discounts worth checking.
Bands A to H for 2026/27
| Band | 1991 value | H&F share | GLA precept | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Up to £40,000 | £672.67 | £340.34 | £1,013.01 |
| B | £40,001 to £52,000 | £784.78 | £397.06 | £1,181.84 |
| C | £52,001 to £68,000 | £896.89 | £453.79 | £1,350.68 |
| D | £68,001 to £88,000 | £1,009.00 | £510.51 | £1,519.51 |
| E | £88,001 to £120,000 | £1,233.22 | £623.96 | £1,857.18 |
| F | £120,001 to £160,000 | £1,457.44 | £737.40 | £2,194.84 |
| G | £160,001 to £320,000 | £1,681.67 | £850.85 | £2,532.52 |
| H | Over £320,000 | £2,018.00 | £1,021.02 | £3,039.02 |
These are the figures the council itself set, in resolutions 11 to 13 of its Revenue Budget and Council Tax Levels 2026/27 report. Band ranges are from the council’s bands and rates page.
Three figures on the council’s own page do not add up
The council’s bands and rates page prints a second table splitting each band between the council and the GLA. Three of its numbers contradict the budget the council actually approved.
| Band | Council’s website | Council’s budget resolution | Out by |
|---|---|---|---|
| A, H&F share | £627.67 | £672.67 | £45.00 |
| B, H&F share | £784.70 | £784.78 | 8p |
| E, total | £1,857.13 | £1,857.18 | 5p |
Band A is the one that matters. The website’s £627.67 plus its own GLA figure of £340.34 comes to £968.01, which is £45 short of the £1,013.00 total printed alongside it. The budget resolution says £672.67, which does add up. It looks like two digits swapped places.
The arithmetic settles it independently. Council tax bands are fixed by statute as fractions of band D: band A is six ninths, band B seven ninths, band E eleven ninths. Six ninths of £1,009.00 is £672.67, and eleven ninths of £1,519.51 is £1,857.18. The government’s own 2026-27 council tax statistics list band E in this borough at £1,857.18 as well.
The bills that went out are the resolution’s figures, so this is a website error rather than an overcharge. It is still worth knowing if you are checking a bill against the page.
What changed this year
The council raised its own share by the maximum available without a referendum: 2.99 per cent for general services plus a 2 per cent adult social care precept. That takes a band D home from £961.04 to £1,009.00, a rise of £47.96, or 4.99 per cent.
The GLA precept rose from £490.38 to £510.51 at band D, an increase of £20.13, or 4.11 per cent.
Put together, a band D bill rose £68.09, from £1,451.42 to £1,519.51, which is 4.69 per cent. The adult social care element is worth £19.22 a year at band D and is ringfenced for social care. The council notes it is not shown as a separate expenditure line this year.
The maths behind the band D figure is set out in the budget report. The council needs £139,378,574 across a tax base of 91,726 band D equivalent homes, which produces £1,519.51. Its own share of that requirement is £92,551,534, or £1,009.00.
Fourth lowest in England, not third
The council’s budget report states that “the Council Tax charge for Hammersmith & Fulham is the third lowest in the country”. The government’s own table for 2026-27 puts it fourth.
| Rank | Area | Band D |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wandsworth | £1,028.21 |
| 2 | Westminster | £1,049.55 |
| 3 | City of London | £1,329.56 |
| 4 | Hammersmith and Fulham | £1,519.51 |
| 5 | Kensington and Chelsea | £1,666.65 |
Source: MHCLG council tax levels 2026 to 2027, Table 9. The claim works if you set the City of London aside as a special case, which is a fair reading but not what the sentence says. Either way the borough is in the cheapest handful in the country, out of 296 areas. The most expensive is Dorset at £2,765.02.
How to check and challenge your band
Your band was set on what your home would have sold for on 1 April 1991, not on what it is worth now. That applies even to a flat built last year, which is valued as though 1991 prices applied to it.
- Check your band free through the Valuation Office Agency, or on your bill, or in the council’s My Account.
- Challenge it at the VOA. If you have been the taxpayer for less than six months, or your band changed in the last six months, you can simply ask for a review. Otherwise you need strong supporting evidence.
- Keep paying while any challenge is outstanding. The council is explicit about this.
Appeals about liability, exemptions or discounts are different and go to the council first, in writing, at H&F Council, PO Box 1453, London W6 9UU. Banding is the VOA’s job, not the council’s.
Discounts, including one that exists nowhere else
Almost four in ten households in the borough get some reduction. The council’s own liability table counts 95,707 dwellings, of which 62 per cent pay the full charge. Of the rest, 33,424 have a discount, mostly single person, 13,061 claim council tax support, and 3,321 are exempt.
- Sole occupier discount, 25 per cent. If you are the only adult in the property. Apply online. Making a false claim is a criminal offence.
- Students. A property occupied only by full-time students is exempt. Where all but one resident is a full-time student, the bill gets a 25 per cent discount. An individual student in a mixed household is not exempt.
- Council tax support. For low incomes. Claiming Universal Credit does not get you this automatically, so you have to apply separately.
- Care leavers and foster carers. The scheme was expanded this year to give both groups a 100 per cent discount.
- Veterans, 25 per cent. The council says it is the first anywhere in the country to offer this, and it runs for 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027.
- Disability reduction. If someone in the household needs an extra bathroom or kitchen, a room given over to their needs, or space to use a wheelchair indoors, the bill is worked out at the band below. A band D home is charged as band C. A band A home gets one ninth of the band D amount taken off. Income is not tested.
One caution on the veterans discount. The council’s veterans page says the expression of interest form closed, and that applications would open “later in 2025”. It has not been updated since. If you hold an HM Armed Forces Veteran card and were not on that list, contact the council tax team directly rather than assuming the window is shut.
Second homes and empty homes cost double
Since 1 April 2025 the borough has charged premiums, and they are steep.
| Property | Charge |
|---|---|
| Second home, not a main residence | 200% |
| Empty 1 to 5 years | 200% |
| Empty 5 to 10 years | 300% |
| Empty 10 years or more | 400% |
A full charge, with no discount, also applies to unfurnished property empty for less than a year and to homes undergoing major repair or structural alteration. There are statutory exceptions, which the council lists by class on its second homes and empty homes page.
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