Winchester council tax bands 2026/27: all 49 areas

There is no single Winchester council tax rate. The district is divided into 49 charging areas: 48 parishes, plus the unparished centre known as Winchester Town. The county, police and fire shares are identical everywhere. What differs is the parish precept, and in the town’s case a special expense.

On a Band D home the gap between the cheapest and the dearest area is £224.81 a year. The cheapest are Beauworth and Chilcomb, at £2,241.90. Neither parish raises a precept at all. The dearest is Bishops Waltham, at £2,466.71, where the parish council put its precept up 10% this year.

What makes up the bill

Four bodies are charged on every bill in the district, and most homes pay a fifth. These are the Band D figures for 2026/27.

Those four fixed elements come to £2,241.90 at Band D. That is exactly what a Beauworth or Chilcomb household pays, because neither parish adds a precept.

Sources: Winchester City Council’s Council Tax Charges 2026-27 schedule (the annex to the 26 February 2026 Council meeting) for every figure in the table; Hampshire County Council for the 4.99% and the adult social care split; the Police and Crime Commissioner’s 2026-27 council tax leaflet for the £15 rise at Band D; and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service for the £5 rise agreed on 10 February 2026.

Every band, every area, 2026/27

All figures in pounds per year, and all taken from the council’s Council Tax Charges 2026-27 schedule. Areas are named as the council names them.

Which row is yours

If you live in a parish, use the parish row. If you live in the unparished centre of the city, use the Winchester Town row. That area does not have a parish council, so the city council runs its local services through the Winchester Town Account and charges a special expense of £94.58 at Band D, up 5.0% on last year.

What that £94.58 pays for in 2026/27, from the council’s own Winchester Town Account budget:

• recreation grounds and open spaces, £934,153
• cemeteries, £97,345
• public conveniences contribution, £82,000
• grants and vision delivery, £60,000
• neighbourhood service officers contribution, £45,000
• footway lighting, £33,536
• tree works, £30,000, a new budget this year
• a speed camera feasibility study, £15,000, one-off
• Christmas lights, £7,500

What changed in the parishes this year

The district charge rose 2.95% and the county 4.99%, but the parish element is where the real variation is. Parish precepts are not capped by the referendum rules that apply to the district and the county, so they can move sharply in either direction.

The steepest rises at Band D, from the council’s District, Town and Parish Council Precepts annex:

• Old Alresford, up 21.1%, from £54.70 to £66.25
• Itchen Valley, up 16.4%, from £45.19 to £52.61
• Soberton, up 13.3%, from £48.48 to £54.94
• Headbourne Worthy, up 12.6%, from £102.30 to £115.14
• Wonston, up 11.8%, from £62.37 to £69.75
• Durley, up 11.3%, from £85.42 to £95.06
• Curdridge, up 11.2%, from £131.60 to £146.28
• Bishops Waltham, up 10.0%, from £204.44 to £224.81

Four parishes cut their Band D charge:

• Bighton, down 21.5%, from £59.88 to £47.00
• Denmead, down 9.4%, from £232.49 to £210.62
• New Alresford, down 4.0%, from £148.91 to £143.02
• Newlands, down 2.8%, from £135.72 to £131.90

Bishops Waltham’s rise is the one that moved the most money. Its precept went from £626,437 to £700,351, and the council’s Large Town and Parish Councils annex shows why: premises and recreation income fell from £413,736 to £247,009, so more of the same spending had to come from the precept.

Denmead’s cut works the other way. Its recreation budget dropped from £424,288 to £336,722 and its grants to local organisations from £15,000 to £4,715.

Beauworth and Chilcomb charge nothing. Tichborne held its Band D charge at £36.93, unchanged from last year.

How to check your band

Bands are set by the Valuation Office Agency, not by the council, and they are based on what a property was worth on 1 April 1991. Not on what it is worth now.

• Look up any address on the VOA’s council tax band search.
• If you think the band is wrong, you challenge the VOA, not Winchester City Council. The council’s own band and appeals page says so plainly.
• Keep paying while a challenge is open. The council warns that recovery action can still be taken if you stop.

Discounts and support

• Single person discount, 25%. For the only adult aged 18 or over in a property that is their sole or main residence.
• It is not backdated more than three months. Winchester’s discounts page states that limit, and it catches people out.
• Tell the council within 21 days if your circumstances change. Failing to do so can bring a £50 civil penalty.
• Students are disregarded in the calculation, so a discount or full exemption may apply. Anyone in halls of residence is not liable at all. Certificates have to be sent in each academic year.
• Council Tax Reduction is for people on a low income or on benefits. You cannot get it if you or your partner have capital or savings of £16,000 or more, unless you receive the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit. The 2026/27 scheme document is published in full.
• Backdating differs by age. Under State Pension Credit age, a Council Tax Reduction claim can be backdated to the start of the financial year. Over it, you have three months.
• Council Tax Reduction also cuts the garden waste subscription, from £73 to £58 for a standard bin. A single person discount on its own does not.

Where the rest of the money goes

The city council’s own share is the smallest of the four at £168.49, and it raises £9,438,338 across a tax base of 56,017.20 Band D equivalents. Its Council Tax Requirement splits total net expenditure of £34.956m for 2026/27 across five programmes:

• Greener Faster, £11.493m, up from £8.783m
• Effective and Efficient, £10.797m, up from £7.209m
• Parish precepts collected on behalf of parishes, £5.168m
• Good Homes for All, £3.595m, up from £1.378m
• Healthy Communities, £2.560m, down from £4.108m
• Thriving Places, £1.343m, down from £2.920m

Also on this site

• Winchester bin collection days, including what happens in bank holiday weeks
• Parking in Winchester, tariffs and where the first hour is free
• Winchester roadworks and travel
• Winchester house prices