From April 2026, Kingston upon Thames residents on a Band D property will pay £2,608.12 per year in council tax. That is up from £2,488.35 in 2025/26 — a rise of £119.77, or 4.99%.
That figure is your total bill: it includes both the Kingston Council element and the Greater London Authority (GLA) precept collected on the Mayor of London's behalf. Both have gone up.
The 4.99% increase is made up of two parts: a 2.99% general council tax rise and a 2% adult social care precept. The adult social care precept is a ring-fenced addition that successive governments have allowed councils to levy specifically to fund care for older and disabled residents — it is not discretionary spending the council can redirect elsewhere.
The annual council tax figure is the most visible number, but it is not the most important one.
Kingston's Medium Term Financial Strategy 2026–2030 projects a £18 million budget gap over the next four years. That means, even with this year's tax rise banked, the council currently has no plan that fully closes the difference between what it expects to spend and what it expects to receive.
The council holds £14.2 million in reserves, according to the 2026/27 budget papers. Reserves are a one-off resource — once spent, they are gone. £14.2 million sounds substantial until you set it against an £18 million gap. It does not cover the shortfall, and finance officers typically warn against using reserves to plug recurring deficits rather than one-off pressures.
That gap has to be closed somehow: through cuts to services, further tax rises in future years, efficiency savings, or some combination of all three.
The 4.99% increase and the 2026/27 budget were approved by Full Council, following scrutiny at the Corporate and Resources Committee. These are the two committees formally responsible for signing off Kingston's financial plans.
Full Council comprises 48 councillors across 19 wards. Residents in every ward have elected representatives who voted on this budget. Worth knowing: full council elections are scheduled for 7 May 2026, meaning every one of those 48 seats is up for contest in a matter of months.
Council budgets are dense documents, and the approved figures only tell part of the story. Here are the questions that deserve clear public answers.
How will the £18 million gap actually be closed? The Medium Term Financial Strategy identifies the gap but setting out that a problem exists is not the same as solving it. Residents are entitled to know which services are under review, what the realistic savings targets are, and what happens if those targets are missed.
What is the reserves strategy? With £14.2 million in reserves and an £18 million projected gap, the council cannot simply draw down reserves to balance the books — there is not enough, and doing so would only delay the problem. How does the council intend to maintain financial resilience while also addressing the structural deficit?
What does the adult social care precept actually fund locally? The 2% adult social care element adds a meaningful sum to every household's bill. Residents have every right to ask for a clear account of how that money is spent in Kingston: how many people receive council-funded care, what the waiting lists look like, and whether demand is rising faster than the funding.
Are efficiency savings real, or are they service cuts by another name? Councils routinely describe reductions in services as 'efficiencies'. The distinction matters. An efficiency saving means doing the same thing for less money. A service cut means doing less. Residents should press their councillors to be specific about which category any proposed saving falls into.
Why now, and why 4.99% specifically? The government caps how much councils can raise council tax without a local referendum. For most councils, that cap currently sits at 5% (including the adult social care precept). Kingston has gone to 4.99% — a fraction below the threshold that would require a public vote. Is that a coincidence? It is a question worth putting directly to your representatives.
Band D is the reference point, but most properties do not sit at Band D. Bills are calculated as a proportion of the Band D charge:
If you are unsure of your band, it is listed on your council tax bill and can be checked at the Valuation Office Agency website. A single-person household also receives a 25% discount, regardless of band.
For a Band D household, the £119.77 annual rise works out at roughly £9.98 per month, or just under £2.31 per week.
Kingston is not alone in raising council tax close to the legal maximum. Across England, local government finances have been under sustained pressure for well over a decade, and many councils are in far worse positions than Kingston — some have issued Section 114 notices, effectively declaring themselves unable to balance their budgets.
That context does not make the local decisions any less worthy of scrutiny. It simply means residents need to understand both the national pressures and the specific local choices being made on their behalf.
With council elections on 7 May 2026, candidates across all 19 wards will be asking for your vote. How they plan to address a projected £18 million gap while protecting services is a reasonable question to put to every single one of them.
127 residents are already following this issue on Council Clarity — and 14 have sent messages to their councillors directly through the platform.
If you want to know how your ward councillors voted on this budget, what their position is on the four-year savings plan, or how they intend to approach the May 2026 elections with an £18 million gap still unresolved, use Council Clarity to message them directly. It takes less than two minutes, your message goes on the public record, and councillors are expected to respond. Find your representatives and send your question at councilclarity.co.uk.
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