The Conservative-led Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea has put forward a proposal to raise council tax by up to 70% for the 2027/28 financial year, far above the 5% annual cap the council had previously planned for. The council says it acted “reluctantly,” citing a projected £108 million reduction to its budget by 2031 under the national government’s Fairer Funding Review, which redirects local-government funding toward more deprived areas.
Kensington and Chelsea is one of five London boroughs that ministers have authorised to raise council tax above the national 5% cap for two years without holding a local referendum. Residents are now being consulted on three options: holding to the previously assumed 5% rise, or a steeper one-off increase of either 65% or 70% in 2027/28, followed by 5% annual rises afterward. A public consultation is due to launch days after the proposal was unveiled, and the council says no final decision will be made until the full budget is set at a council meeting in March.
The borough is London’s most expensive, with an average home price of £1.37 million, but local residents and business owners have pushed back on the idea that everyone there can absorb a 70% increase. Kensington and Chelsea’s deputy leader and finance chief, councillor Emma Will, said the council has already found more than £50 million in savings and has a further £65 million to find, and called the government funding review “unfair.” Opposition councillor Monica Press, leader of the borough’s Labour group, said the rise “will make things harder for many families,” pointing to the council’s existing cuts to council-tax support.
For anyone who owns property in the borough — including overseas owners who hold flats or houses there — the proposal, if adopted, would mean a materially higher annual council tax bill from 2027/28, on top of whatever base rate currently applies to the property.
References
Evening Standard – Struggling Londoners Slam ‘Outrageous’ Proposal for 70% Council Tax Rise
