Band D in Royal Tunbridge Wells is £2,437.55 for 2026/27, up 4.1%. Every band A to H in all 17 areas, from £2,336.32 in Frittenden to £2,544.10 in Paddock Wood.
Your council tax bill in this borough depends on two things: the band your home sits in, and which of 17 areas it sits in. The borough council publishes the full table, but only at the bottom of a very long page about its budget. This page sets out the 2026/27 charge for every band in every area, who gets the money, what went up and by how much, and how to check or challenge your band.
The quick answer
Band D in Royal Tunbridge Wells is £2,437.55 for 2026/27, up £95.96 or 4.1% on last year. Across the borough band D ranges from £2,336.32 in Frittenden to £2,544.10 in Paddock Wood, a gap of £207.78. Every area pays the same £2,298.75 to Kent County Council, the borough, Kent Police and Kent Fire and Rescue. The difference is entirely the parish precept and special expenses charge on top. Look up your own band on GOV.UK.
Band D across the borough
The full table: every band, every area
These are the 2026/27 charges. Find your area in the left column and read across to your band.
| Area | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benenden | £1,568.42 | £1,829.82 | £2,091.23 | £2,352.63 | £2,875.44 | £3,398.24 | £3,921.05 | £4,705.26 |
| Bidborough | £1,627.21 | £1,898.40 | £2,169.62 | £2,440.81 | £2,983.22 | £3,525.61 | £4,068.02 | £4,881.62 |
| Brenchley and Matfield | £1,594.64 | £1,860.41 | £2,126.19 | £2,391.96 | £2,923.51 | £3,455.05 | £3,986.60 | £4,783.92 |
| Capel | £1,672.63 | £1,951.40 | £2,230.18 | £2,508.95 | £3,066.50 | £3,624.03 | £4,181.58 | £5,017.90 |
| Cranbrook and Sissinghurst | £1,635.71 | £1,908.32 | £2,180.95 | £2,453.56 | £2,998.80 | £3,544.02 | £4,089.27 | £4,907.12 |
| Frittenden | £1,557.55 | £1,817.13 | £2,076.74 | £2,336.32 | £2,855.51 | £3,374.68 | £3,893.87 | £4,672.64 |
| Goudhurst | £1,655.78 | £1,931.74 | £2,207.71 | £2,483.67 | £3,035.60 | £3,587.52 | £4,139.45 | £4,967.34 |
| Hawkhurst | £1,615.53 | £1,884.77 | £2,154.04 | £2,423.29 | £2,961.81 | £3,500.30 | £4,038.82 | £4,846.58 |
| Horsmonden | £1,612.99 | £1,881.81 | £2,150.66 | £2,419.48 | £2,957.15 | £3,494.80 | £4,032.47 | £4,838.96 |
| Lamberhurst | £1,589.86 | £1,854.83 | £2,119.82 | £2,384.79 | £2,914.75 | £3,444.69 | £3,974.65 | £4,769.58 |
| Paddock Wood | £1,696.07 | £1,978.74 | £2,261.43 | £2,544.10 | £3,109.46 | £3,674.80 | £4,240.17 | £5,088.20 |
| Pembury | £1,620.33 | £1,890.38 | £2,160.45 | £2,430.50 | £2,970.62 | £3,510.72 | £4,050.83 | £4,861.00 |
| Royal Tunbridge Wells | £1,625.03 | £1,895.87 | £2,166.72 | £2,437.55 | £2,979.23 | £3,520.90 | £4,062.58 | £4,875.10 |
| Rusthall | £1,642.76 | £1,916.56 | £2,190.36 | £2,464.15 | £3,011.74 | £3,559.32 | £4,106.91 | £4,928.30 |
| Sandhurst | £1,653.89 | £1,929.53 | £2,205.19 | £2,480.83 | £3,032.13 | £3,583.41 | £4,134.72 | £4,961.66 |
| Southborough | £1,648.03 | £1,922.69 | £2,197.38 | £2,472.04 | £3,021.39 | £3,570.72 | £4,120.07 | £4,944.08 |
| Speldhurst | £1,602.01 | £1,869.00 | £2,136.02 | £2,403.01 | £2,937.02 | £3,471.01 | £4,005.02 | £4,806.02 |
Source: Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, Your Council Tax, also published on its Banding and amounts to pay page.
We checked every row against the statutory band ratios, which fix band A at six ninths of band D and band H at exactly double it. All 17 areas are arithmetically correct, and so is the borough-wide table below. That is not something to take for granted: errors in these tables are common.
Who gets your money
Only about 9p in every pound stays with the borough council. Nearly three quarters goes to Kent County Council.
| Authority | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kent County Council, including the adult social care precept | £1,172.40 | £1,367.80 | £1,563.20 | £1,758.60 | £2,149.40 | £2,540.20 | £2,931.00 | £3,517.20 |
| Kent Police and Crime Commissioner | £190.10 | £221.78 | £253.47 | £285.15 | £348.52 | £411.88 | £475.25 | £570.30 |
| Tunbridge Wells Borough Council | £103.46 | £120.70 | £137.95 | £155.19 | £189.68 | £224.16 | £258.65 | £310.38 |
| Kent Fire and Rescue Service | £66.54 | £77.63 | £88.72 | £99.81 | £121.99 | £144.17 | £166.35 | £199.62 |
| Total | £1,532.50 | £1,787.91 | £2,043.34 | £2,298.75 | £2,809.59 | £3,320.41 | £3,831.25 | £4,597.50 |
What went up, and by how much
Comparing this year’s table with last year’s gives the real increases, which the council does not publish in one place.
| Authority | 2025/26 | 2026/27 | Increase | Rise | Limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kent County Council | £1,691.19 | £1,758.60 | £67.41 | 3.99% | 5% |
| Kent Police and Crime Commissioner | £270.15 | £285.15 | £15.00 | 5.55% | £15 |
| Tunbridge Wells Borough Council | £150.60 | £155.19 | £4.59 | 3.05% | 3% |
| Kent Fire and Rescue Service | £94.86 | £99.81 | £4.95 | 5.22% | £5 |
| Total | £2,206.80 | £2,298.75 | £91.95 | 4.17% |
Two things stand out.
Kent County Council did not take everything it could. It was allowed 5% and put its charge up 3.99%, which is £16.75 a year less at band D than the maximum. The police took the full £15 the referendum rules allowed. The fire service stopped five pence short of its £5 ceiling.
The borough’s own share is the smallest. At £155.19 a year for band D, it is 6.8% of the bill before parish charges. The council says that works out at 59p a day, and that it has the lowest “spending power” of any council in Kent at £146 per resident. Its £4.59 increase is 3.05%, marginally above the 3% its own page quotes, because district councils are allowed the greater of 3% or £5 before a referendum is triggered. A full £5 would have taken band D to £155.60.
Comparison figures are from the council’s 2025/26 version of the same page, archived on 23 October 2025.
Parish precepts: where the £207 gap comes from
Every area of the borough pays the same £2,298.75. What differs is the parish precept, and in four areas an additional “special expenses” charge for services the borough itself provides locally.
Capel is the story this year. Its parish precept went from £101,000 to £198,877, taking the band D charge from £104.25 to £207.59, a rise of 99.1%. That pushed the total band D bill in Capel up 8.4%, twice the increase anywhere else in the borough. Capel is the parish that takes in Five Oak Green and Tudeley, next to the Paddock Wood and east Capel allocation of around 2,450 homes in the adopted Local Plan.
At the other end, Frittenden cut its precept, from £40.24 to £37.57 at band D, a fall of 6.6% and the only reduction in the borough. Benenden held its charge almost exactly flat, at two pence less than last year.
| Parish or town council | 2025/26 | 2026/27 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capel | £104.25 | £207.59 | +99.1% |
| Sandhurst | £165.78 | £182.08 | +9.8% |
| Rusthall | £78.01 | £85.10 | +9.1% |
| Horsmonden | £113.67 | £120.73 | +6.2% |
| Cranbrook and Sissinghurst | £145.90 | £154.81 | +6.1% |
| Goudhurst | £176.44 | £184.92 | +4.8% |
| Speldhurst | £99.52 | £104.26 | +4.8% |
| Pembury | £125.97 | £131.75 | +4.6% |
| Bidborough | £136.31 | £142.06 | +4.2% |
| Paddock Wood | £235.92 | £245.35 | +4.0% |
| Southborough | £161.59 | £166.63 | +3.1% |
| Lamberhurst | £84.83 | £86.04 | +1.4% |
| Hawkhurst | £123.18 | £124.54 | +1.1% |
| Brenchley and Matfield | £92.69 | £93.21 | +0.6% |
| Benenden | £53.90 | £53.88 | −0.04% |
| Frittenden | £40.24 | £37.57 | −6.6% |
There is no referendum limit on parish and town councils, which is how a near-doubling like Capel’s is possible. Paddock Wood remains by far the largest precept in cash terms, at £963,711.
Special expenses
Four areas pay an extra charge for parks and footway lighting that the borough council provides only there. Royal Tunbridge Wells has no parish council of its own, so this charge is the whole of its local top-up.
- Royal Tunbridge Wells: £138.80 at band D, up from £134.79, covering £2,839,000 of parks spending and £72,000 of footway lighting
- Rusthall: £80.30, up from £77.97, on top of its £85.10 parish precept
- Southborough: £6.66, up from £6.47
- Capel: £2.61, up from £2.54
Checking and challenging your band
Bands are set by the Valuation Office Agency, part of HM Revenue and Customs, not by the council. Every home is put in one of eight bands based on what it would have sold for on 1 April 1991, not on what it is worth now.
- Look up any address in England or Wales on GOV.UK council tax bands.
- The council has its own band checker if you prefer to search by postcode.
- To challenge a band, use the VOA’s challenge process on GOV.UK. Keep paying the current bill while a challenge is open.
A band can go up as well as down on review, so it is worth checking similar neighbouring properties first.
Discounts, and what they are worth
The council lists 17 grounds for a reduction. The ones most people qualify for:
- Single person discount: 25%, if you are the only adult in the property and it is your main home. You can apply online.
- Full-time students: a student living alone is exempt. A student sharing with one non-student gets that household a 25% discount. Two or more non-students and there is no reduction. The exemption extends to student nurses.
- Severe mental impairment: exempt if you live alone, 25% off if you live with one other adult. Needs a doctor’s confirmation and a qualifying benefit.
- Carers: disregarded if you provide at least 35 hours a week, live with the person you care for, are not their partner or parent, and they receive a qualifying benefit.
- Apprentices: disregarded if under 25, on an accredited training programme and paid no more than £195 a week.
- Disabled person’s relief: if your home has been adapted, you are charged one band lower than your actual band. A band D home pays the band C rate. Apply by email to counciltax@midkent.gov.uk.
- Annexes: a 50% discount where the annexe is used as part of the main home or occupied by a relative, with full exemption in some cases.
- Care leavers aged 16 to 21 should pass the bill to their Kent County Council personal adviser.
Empty homes and second homes are penalised hard
There is no discount at all for an empty or second home in this borough. Instead there are premiums, agreed by Full Council on 28 February 2024. The figures below are what you end up paying in total, not the premium on its own:
- Second homes, furnished but nobody’s main residence: 200% of the normal charge since 1 April 2025
- Empty and unfurnished for over a year: 200%
- Empty for over five years: 300%
- Empty for over ten years: 400%
- Empty and undergoing major repair or structural work: no discount
So a band D second home in Royal Tunbridge Wells is billed £4,875.10, and one empty for a decade £9,750.20.
A property only stops counting as empty once it has been furnished and occupied for more than six weeks in a row. The premium does not apply to an annexe, or where the owner has to move into armed forces accommodation for work. (Reducing your bill)
The support scheme changed in April 2026
Council Tax Reduction for working-age households is now an income-banded scheme, in force from 1 April 2026. Pension-age households are still assessed under the national scheme.
There are five bands and the maximum reduction is 80%, so no working-age household has its whole bill covered. Income counts employment earnings only and ignores benefits, so anyone not working and on maximum Universal Credit, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance or Income Support falls straight into Band 1 at 80%.
| Band | No children | 1 to 2 children | 3 or more children | Reduction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Band 1 | Universal Credit and other state benefits only | 80% | ||
| Band 2 | under £82.14 | under £100.60 | under £114.63 | 65% |
| Band 3 | £82.14 to £164.27 | £100.60 to £201.44 | £114.63 to £229.52 | 50% |
| Band 4 | £164.28 to £246.42 | £201.45 to £302.30 | £229.53 to £344.41 | 25% |
| Band 5 | £246.43 to £328.55 | £302.31 to £403.15 | £344.42 to £459.30 | 10% |
Two rules cut the award further. Savings or investments over £10,000 disqualify you outright. And a non-dependent adult in the household costs £5 a week if they are on out-of-work benefits, or £10 a week if they are working. (Council Tax Reduction Scheme)
Being on Band 1 of the scheme also gets working-age households a bulky waste collection for £10 instead of £70. See Tunbridge Wells bin collection days.
Paying
Bills default to 10 monthly instalments. You can ask for 12, which lowers each payment without changing the total. Direct Debit is taken on the 1st or the 15th, and can be monthly, half yearly or in one payment. The automated payment line is 0800 023 7086, and there is a cash kiosk at The Amelia Scott on Mount Pleasant Road.
One thing to watch: if you owe anything from a previous year, a payment that does not exactly match this year’s balance may be put towards the arrears instead. Tell the council which year a payment is for.
Also on this site
- Tunbridge Wells bin collection days: which bin, which week, and the bank holiday rule
- Parking in Tunbridge Wells: every council car park priced, plus permits and free bays
- Tunbridge Wells roadworks and travel: current closures and diversions
Sources
- Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, Your Council Tax, checked 2 September 2026: the 2026/27 band A to H table for all 17 areas, the split between the four authorities, the referendum limits, the special expenses tables and the parish precepts for 2025/26 and 2026/27
- Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, Banding and amounts to pay and Check your Council Tax band
- Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, Reducing your bill, Council Tax Reduction Scheme, Council Tax Support and Care leavers
- Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, Your Council Tax 2025/26, archived 23 October 2025: the 2025/26 band D figures used for the year-on-year comparison
- Valuation Office Agency via GOV.UK, Check your Council Tax band and Challenge your Council Tax band
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