Bands and charges
Understanding your bill
Find out how we calculate your bill each year.
Understanding your bill
Once a year (usually in March), you will receive a Council Tax bill for the upcoming year
Your bill will show:
- how much you will pay
- how we calculate your bill
- any discounts you're receiving
Most people pay in 10 monthly instalments from April to January. If you would like to pay your bill in 12 instalments please use our online form to contact us by 15 April 2024 to request this.
How we calculate your bill
In all London boroughs, your total Council Tax has two parts:
- the council sets an amount based on how much money we need to deliver vital local services and meet our levying obligations
- the Greater London Authority sets an amount called the GLA precept
The Adult Social Care precept
The Adult Social Care precept allows Councils that provide Social Care to adults to increase their share of Council Tax by up to an extra 2%.
The income generated from this charge is only for Adult Social Care services. Adult Social Care services support some of the most vulnerable members of our communities, mainly supporting those in old age and adults with disabilities.
The government guidelines say this precept must appear as a separate charge on all Council Tax bills.
The Adult Social Care (ASC) precept is a cumulative figure on the Council Tax bill.
The % increase allowed for 2024-25 is 2% of Kingston’s 2023-24 total council tax bill (not including the GLA precept). This equates to £36.27.
The £36.27 is then added to the previous year's cumulative amounts for ASC:
- 2016-17 (£27.59)
- 2017-18 (£42.22), cumulative total £69.81
- 2018-19 (£0), cumulative total £69.81
- 2019-20 (£29.55), cumulative total £99.36
- 2020-21 (£31.02), cumulative total £130.38
- 2021-22 (£48.39), cumulative total £178.77
- 2022-23 (£16.94), cumulative total £195.71
- 2023-24 (£34.53), cumulative total £230.24
- 2024-25 (£36.27), cumulative total £266.51
Although the amount on the bill shows a change from £230.24 to £266.51 (a change of £36.27) and what appears to be 15.8%, the actual increase is only 2%, or £36.27. These values need to be adjusted for the other bands accordingly.
GLA precept
The GLA precept is part of your Council Tax that goes towards funding services the Greater London Authority provides.
These include London-wide transport, policing and fire services. The Mayor of London sets the GLA precept each year.
You can read the GLA explanatory notes for more information about the Mayor of London's budget.
How we calculate your total Council Tax
We calculate the Royal Borough of Kingston part of your Council Tax in two stages.
First, we work out how much money the council needs to deliver its services and meet its levying obligations (our gross expenditure).
Then, we work out how much income we will generate and other funding we will receive (our gross income).
After that, we work out the difference ( net expenditure) and what we need to raise in Council Tax.