Every Bournemouth band for 2026/27, from £1,619.64 at Band A to £4,858.92 at Band H. Band D is £2,429.46, and £29.47 of that is the brand new town council.
Bournemouth council tax for 2026/27 runs from £1,619.64 a year at Band A to £4,858.92 at Band H. A Band D home pays £2,429.46.
Two things about that bill are unusual this year, and the council’s own bands page does not put either of them in front of you.
The first is the increase. BCP Council put its own share up by 6.74%, not the 4.99% that normally triggers a referendum. The government gave it permission to add an extra 1.75% without asking voters. (BCP Council, Council Tax bands and charges)
The second is new. On 1 April 2026 Bournemouth got a town council for the first time, and it charges a precept. At Band D that is £29.47, up from the £2.24 the old Bournemouth Charter Trustees took last year.
Put together, a Band D bill in Bournemouth has gone up £172.28 in a year, or 7.6%. The headline figure of 6.74% is the council’s own share, not what landed on the doormat.
Bournemouth council tax by band, 2026/27
These are the full annual charges for 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027 for an address in the Bournemouth Town Council area, which is almost all of Bournemouth. The split between the four bodies that share the bill is shown alongside.
| Band | BCP Council | Dorset Police | Fire | Town council | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | £1,320.31 | £215.05 | £64.63 | £19.65 | £1,619.64 |
| B | £1,540.36 | £250.90 | £75.41 | £22.92 | £1,889.59 |
| C | £1,760.41 | £286.74 | £86.18 | £26.20 | £2,159.53 |
| D | £1,980.46 | £322.58 | £96.95 | £29.47 | £2,429.46 |
| E | £2,420.56 | £394.26 | £118.49 | £36.02 | £2,969.33 |
| F | £2,860.66 | £465.95 | £140.04 | £42.57 | £3,509.22 |
| G | £3,300.77 | £537.63 | £161.58 | £49.12 | £4,049.10 |
| H | £3,960.92 | £645.16 | £193.90 | £58.94 | £4,858.92 |
Band D is the reference point every council uses. The other bands are fixed fractions of it: Band A is six ninths of Band D, Band H is eighteen ninths, so a Band H home pays exactly three times a Band A one.
The bit of Bournemouth that pays more
Not every Bournemouth address is in the Bournemouth Town Council area. Throop and Holdenhurst has its own parish council, and it charges more.
| Band | Bournemouth Town | Throop and Holdenhurst |
|---|---|---|
| A | £1,619.64 | £1,626.46 |
| D | £2,429.46 | £2,439.69 |
| H | £4,858.92 | £4,879.38 |
Throop and Holdenhurst is a small parish. Its tax base is 306.3 Band D equivalent homes, against 67,246.3 in the Bournemouth Town area.
Why there is no longer an “unparished” bill
BCP Council’s bands page still leads with a table headed “unparished areas”. Ignore it if you live in Bournemouth. It shows £2,399.99 at Band D, and nobody in the borough pays that.
The council’s own resolution proves it. Add up the tax bases of the eight parishes listed in Appendix C and you get 152,481.7 Band D equivalent homes. That is the council’s entire tax base, to the decimal place. Every dwelling in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole now sits in a parish. (BCP Council, 2026/27 Council Tax Resolution, Appendix C)
The unparished figure is the arithmetic base the parish charge is added to, not a bill anyone receives.
What went up, and by how much
The four parts of a Bournemouth bill did not move together. These are the Band D figures for each.
| Charge | 2025/26 | 2026/27 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| BCP Council | £1,855.41 | £1,980.46 | 6.74% |
| Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner | £307.58 | £322.58 | 4.88% |
| Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue | £91.95 | £96.95 | 5.44% |
| Bournemouth Charter Trustees / Town Council | £2.24 | £29.47 | replaced |
The charter trustee line is the one to look at. It was a ceremonial body raising £151,712.50 across Bournemouth. Bournemouth Town Council replaces it and is precepting £1,981,980 in its first year, thirteen times as much.
Poole and Broadstone got new town councils on the same day. Broadstone’s precept is the highest of the three at £60.34 at Band D, Poole Town’s the lowest at £32.56.
Why BCP was allowed to break the 4.99% cap
A council that wants to raise council tax by more than 4.99% normally has to hold a referendum. BCP asked for an extra 2.43% and the government granted an extra 1.75%, which is how the figure landed on 6.74%.
The reason is the council’s special educational needs deficit. The government has said it could write off 90% of that historic debt, £165.2m, if the council produces an approved reform plan. Even then, the council’s finance portfolio holder says at least £38m of debt would remain on 31 March 2028. (BCP Council, Council “cautiously welcomes” Government’s SEND and Council Tax announcements)
The 6.74% raises around £5m a year, which is roughly £10.42 a month more on a Band D home.
Check your band, and challenge it
Bands are set by the Valuation Office Agency, not by BCP Council, and they still rest on what the property would have sold for on 1 April 1991. The bands run from up to £40,000 at Band A to more than £320,000 at Band H, in 1991 money.
You can look up any address on GOV.UK and challenge a band through the VOA.
BCP will only take an appeal in three situations:
- you are the new owner, no appeal has been made on the same facts, and you apply within six months of becoming liable
- part of the property has been demolished or otherwise materially reduced in value
- the Listing Officer has changed the band, which often happens after a sale when the previous owner extended
Keep paying while an appeal is decided. Overpayments are refunded if you win.
Discounts worth claiming
- Single adult: 25% off if you are the only person over 18 in the property. It applies to a main home only, not a second home.
- Students: a full-time course counts if it lasts a year, needs 21 hours a week on average and runs at least 24 weeks a year. Under-20s on a non-degree course qualify at 12 hours a week.
- Disabled band reduction: if the home has an extra bathroom, an extra room or wheelchair space needed by a disabled resident, the bill drops by one band. A Band A home gets a sixth off instead.
- Council Tax Support: for households on a low income or benefits, including Universal Credit. Savings over £16,000 usually rule you out. Universal Credit does not include it, so you have to claim separately.
There is a trap attached. If a discount stops applying, for example another adult moves in, you must tell the council within 21 days. Miss that and you can get an amended bill plus a £70 penalty. The same penalty applies to disabled band reductions. (BCP Council, Single person Council Tax discount)
Backdating is discouraged. A single person claim normally starts from the day you ask, not the day you became the only adult.
Empty homes and second homes
There is no discount at all for an empty property in Bournemouth, and after a year the charge doubles.
| Time empty | Charge |
|---|---|
| 0 to 12 months | 100% |
| 12 to 24 months | 200% |
| 2 to 5 years | 200% |
| 5 to 10 years | 300% |
| Over 10 years | 400% |
Second homes are charged at 200% from 1 April 2025. A furnished property that is nobody’s main residence counts as one, including a property between lets.
A holiday let moves to business rates instead if it was available to let commercially for at least 140 nights and actually let for at least 70 nights over the last 12 months. That decision is the Valuation Office’s, not the council’s. (BCP Council, Council Tax charges for unoccupied but furnished or unfurnished properties)
Also on this site
- Bin collection days in Bournemouth
- Parking in Bournemouth
- Bournemouth roadworks and travel
- Bournemouth house prices
Every figure on this page was checked against BCP Council’s own published charges and its 2026/27 council tax resolution on 26 August 2026.
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