How much Council Tax you pay and how it is spent

We publish information on how your Council Tax payments are spent and what they pay for.

We collect the Council Tax you pay, but only keep around 9 pence in every pound to pay for our services. 

The remaining money goes to the following organisations, who set their own Council Tax, to pay for the services they provide:

• Hampshire County Council
• Police and Crime Commissioner
• Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service

Hampshire County Council Adult Social Care

Hampshire County Council's Council Tax is now just shown as one amount on your bill from 1 April 2025, whereas in previous years it was split up into two separate lines on bills to show the adult social care charge. 

This is due to a change in the government legislation which specifies how Council Tax must be shown on bills.  There is more information on the Hampshire County Council website.

Council Tax charges for 2025/26

For details of the Council Tax charges for 2025/26 and town and parish council spending, please download the document below.

Council Tax for Town and Parish Councils 2025-26 (PDF, 72 KB)

Council Tax for 2025/26

We collect £169 million of Council Tax, which is spent by each authority to deliver its services, as per the breakdown below:

• Hampshire County Council: £118.09 million
• Police and Crime Commissioner: £20.21 million
• New Forest District Council: £15.09 million
• Town and parish councils: £9.13 million
• Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service: £6.44 million

Council Tax payments are calculated based on each property's Council Tax band. For an average Band D property, the annual Council Tax for financial year 2025/26 is split as detailed in the table below.

Council budget 2025/26

Our total gross revenue expenditure in financial year 2025/26 is budgeted at £119,941,000. This excludes spending on council-owned housing services, as this is paid for by housing rents.

After allowing for income of £104,847,000, mainly from reimbursement of benefits, income generated from services, non-domestic rates, interest earnings on balances and government grants, our Council Tax requirement for 2025/26 is £15,094,000.

Our estimated budget is £973,000 more than in financial year 2024/25.

The reasons for this are:

• pay and price increases: £1,360,000
• budget adjustments relating to one-off items: -£562,000
• waste service changes: £776,000
• ongoing savings and income generation: -£844,000
• new budget requirements and alignment of budget to priorities: £243,000

We plan to spend £50,231,000 on our capital programme for 2025/26, as shown below.

• housing: £32,320,000
• coastal protection: £3,269,000
• mitigation schemes: £2,000,000
• waste strategy - purchase and delivery of bins: £8,259,000
• asset modernisation programme: £200,000
• Eling Tide Mill: £260,000
• infrastructure projects: £1,300,000
• sustainability fund: £100,000
• UK Shared Prosperity Fund: £60,000
• vehicles, plant and equipment: £2,463,000

Coastal protection

The Environment Agency is responsible for the management of the risk of flood for rivers and sea defences in England and Wales. 

The Southern Region's gross expenditure for 2025/26 is £112,978,000. A charge is made to Hampshire County Council for costs associated with this function, which is reflected in the Hampshire County Council figure above. 

The total of levies charged for the Southern Region for 2025/26 has increased to £1,691,000 from £1,642,000 in 2024/25.

Town and parish councils

For information about local town and parish councils with a requirement of more than £140,000 in 2025/26, download the document below.

Further information on Town and Parish Councils 2025/26 (PDF, 182 KB)

This document includes contact details for the town clerks for each town and parish. If you have any questions, contact the relevant town clerk.