Families face an eye-watering average council tax hike of more than £70 in April, we can reveal.
Our interactive search tool shows hard-pressed homes will be slapped with inflation-busting hikes to stop services tipping over the brink.
Just two councils in England (Wigan and Thurrock) are planning to freeze council tax completely. And just one (Central Bedfordshire) is raising it by less than the 1.8% CPI inflation rate.
But most are facing huge rises of up to 4.99% after years of Tory cuts - with Band D homes in the worst-hit areas slapped with a hike over £100. And Band D bills in some areas are hitting the £2,000 mark for the first time.
Our data suggests the average Band D bill across England is set to rise by around £72 to more than £1,700 in April.
The final average rise is expected to be slightly higher as this figure excludes smaller hikes for fire services, parish and district councils.
A big part of the hike comes from police as almost every force in England hikes its portion of the tax by £24 - a percentage rise of up to 22%.
Tory ministers argue they are giving councils the flexibility to keep services running and police forces on the beat.
But council chiefs today warn they will still have to make sweeping cutbacks to fund the bin collections, libraries, roadworks and care homes that are so important to us.
And Labour say the rises shift the burden onto the backs of hard-pressed residents - that's you - after "nine years of cuts left councils on the brink of collapse."
So how much will YOUR council tax rise?
Simply enter your postcode and Band (this should be on last year's bill) below to see your area's projected rise in April 2019. Scroll down for a fuller explanation of what the figures mean.
What do our figures include?
Your council tax is made up of several different sections called "precepts", which all rise at different rates.
So we have concentrated on the rise in the two biggest precepts, your social care authority, and your police force (or if you're in London, the Greater London Authority).
Your social care authority (a County, Met Borough, London Borough or Unitary council) is by far the biggest portion of council tax, and can rise by up to 4.99% this year, depending on where you live.
That rise includes up to 2.99% for general funds and, in some areas, a further 2% for social care. Town halls can only access this extra social care rise if they haven't already blown it in previous years.
Your police force is a smaller portion of council tax but is going up by a much larger percentage.
Almost every Band D home in the country is having an extra £24 bolted onto its bill to pay for police from April 2019.
What do our figures NOT include?
Our projected bill does not include the rise in the precept for parish councils, smaller district councils and fire authorities. It includes those precepts at last year's rates, without the rise expected in April.
However, these precepts are comparatively smaller - so the rise to all of them is usually less than £10-15 put together.
Our figures also only apply to the council system in England, not Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
If you live in a new build home, it might show an invalid postcode because it is too new for our database.
And finally, in some cases they show recommended rises, not the final rates agreed by councillors at their full Budget meeting.
Sometimes these final meetings can slash hikes in council tax due to a backlash. However, this kind of last-minute climbdown is relatively rare.
- Our figures were sourced from finance reports to Cabinet/Executive, Full Council meetings and Police and Crime Panels. Are you a council/police officer and believe we have out-of-date figures for your area? E-mail dan(DOT)bloom(AT)mirror.co.uk with the subject line 'Council Tax'.
My council's information isn't all here. Why not?
At the time of publication (22 February 2019), we were unable to obtain some councils' full data. These councils are:
- Dorset County Council: The council is merging with five of its own district councils into a combined authority from April 1. Council tax is therefore changing via a much more complicated formula that we could not incorporate into our search tool.
- Bournemouth and Poole: These councils are also merging, together with Christchurch, into a combined authority from April 1. We could not display their council tax change in our search tool for the same reason.
- Isles of Scilly: The council tax rise was not available before publication, but will be agreed on March 5.
- Plymouth: The proposed rate is being put forward at the final meeting on February 26.
- Redcar and Cleveland: Despite the rate being agreed on February 14, we were unable to find a record of it on the council's website. We have contacted the council for further information.
When we manage to obtain figures for these councils our search tool will be updated.
What is my Council Tax Band?
Houses are 'banded' from Band A to Band H depending on how valuable they are, and a formula is then applied to the Band D rate to determine how much you pay.
Apart from in our searchable widget, our figures almost always refer to a 'Band D' home because that's the one in the middle.
In theory it's the average home, though in some areas - poorer parts of the north of England for example, and in Northumbria - the majority of homes are actually in Band A.
So some councils contest the idea that a Band D home is 'average', because actually most people are in the cheapest bracket.
You should be able to find your Band on last year's bill.
Why is council tax going up so much for police?
Our research shows every police force in the country was set to use the full maximum hike of £24, except West Mercia (£20) and North Yorkshire (£23).
That means they are imposing inflation-busting rises to their portion of council tax of up to 22%.
The steepest percentage rise is by Northumbria Police, whose precept is currently just £110 - but will rise 22% to £134 for a Band D home.
And West Midlands Police is imposing a hike of 19%, raising the police precept for a Band D home from £124.
Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Dame Vera Baird defended her area's 22% hike - which came after 71% of residents agreed to pay more for police in a phone survey.
The force's Chief Constable Winton Keenen said: “Tough decisions have had to be taken to make ends meet, residents have said they want to keep officers in the heart of our communities and this decision will help us to do that.
"The next 12 months won’t be easy, but the right decisions will be taken to protect our communities.”
And why is it going up so much generally?
Councils are in crisis and need more cash after years of Tory cuts.
A survey by the Local Government Information Unit (LGiU) found eight in 10 councils believe the current funding system is "unsustainable", with more than half, 53%, planning to dip into their reserves.
More than a quarter, 29%, said they were planning to cut spending on adult social care.
And 24% expected reductions in children's care services, 16% in special education and disability support, and 11% in support for the homeless.
Labour say Tory ministers are shifting the burden of raising funds onto local ratepayers - while starving them of central government funds.
Shadow Local Government Secretary Andrew Gwynne said: "With Council budgets cut by an extra 36% this year, residents have been forced to pick up the slack through even steeper council tax bills.
"Tory Austerity has meant cuts to community services such as libraries, parks and leisure centres; increases in council tax; and more fees and charges attached to the council services that were once provided publicly and available to all.
"Nine years of Government cuts have pushed local services into crisis and left councils on the brink of collapse."
Cllr Richard Watts, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Resources Board, said: “Between 2010 and 2020, councils will have lost almost 60p out of every £1 the Government had provided for services.
“Faced with a government funding settlement that assumes maximum council tax rises and such funding pressures, many councils feel they have little choice but to ask residents to pay more council tax again this year to help them try and protect their local services.
"With councils facing a funding gap of more than £3 billion this year, council tax rises will not prevent the need for continued cutbacks to local services."
What does the Tory government say?
Local Government Secretary James Brokenshire said: "This year’s settlement paves the way for a fairer, more self-sufficient and resilient future for local government. That is why local authorities will have more control over the money they raise and a real terms increase in their core spending power.
"The settlement also recognises the pressures councils face in meeting growing demand for services and rewards their impressive efforts to drive efficiencies and rebuild our economy."
A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokeswoman said: "Councils, not central government, are responsible for managing their own resources.
"Taxpayers can veto excessive increases via a local referendum.”