Every Bury council tax band for 2026-27, A to H, up 5.82% on last year. The band D bill splits three ways, and the fire precept alone rose 19.39%.
A band D household in Bury pays £2,555.15 in 2026-27, up £140.57 on last year. Every band rose by the same 5.82%, and the steepest single increase on the bill is one most people have never heard of: the mayoral general precept, which funds the fire service, went up 19.39%.
Every figure on this page comes from Bury Council’s own council tax pages and the budget leaflet issued with this year’s bills. The council tax was set at a full council meeting on 25 February 2026.
Bury council tax bands 2026-27
| Band | Value on 1 April 1991 | 2026-27 | 2025-26 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Up to £40,000 | £1,703.43 | £1,609.72 | +£93.71 |
| B | £40,001 to £52,000 | £1,987.34 | £1,877.99 | +£109.35 |
| C | £52,001 to £68,000 | £2,271.24 | £2,146.28 | +£124.96 |
| D | £68,001 to £88,000 | £2,555.15 | £2,414.58 | +£140.57 |
| E | £88,001 to £120,000 | £3,122.96 | £2,951.15 | +£171.81 |
| F | £120,001 to £160,000 | £3,690.77 | £3,487.72 | +£203.05 |
| G | £160,001 to £320,000 | £4,258.58 | £4,024.30 | +£234.28 |
| H | £320,001 and over | £5,110.30 | £4,829.16 | +£281.14 |
Sources: Bury Council, council tax rates 2026-27 and council tax bills for 2025-26.
Spread over the usual ten instalments from April to January, band A is £170.34 a month and band D is £255.52. Ask for twelve instalments instead and band D falls to £212.93.
What makes up the bill
The band D bill has three parts, and they are all the council publishes. Bury is a metropolitan borough with no parish or town councils, so nothing is added on top for where in the borough you live.
| Part of the bill | Band D 2026-27 | Increase |
|---|---|---|
| Bury Council | £2,115.90 | 4.99% |
| Mayoral Police and Crime Commissioner precept | £285.30 | 5.55% |
| Mayoral general precept, including fire | £153.95 | 19.39% |
| Total | £2,555.15 | 5.82% |
Two things stand out. The council’s own share went up 4.99%, a hundredth of a percent under the 5% threshold that would have forced a local referendum. And the mayoral general precept, the smallest line on the bill at £153.95, rose nearly four times as fast as anything else. That precept pays for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue and for the mayor’s own functions, and it is set by the Mayor of Greater Manchester, not by Bury.
There is no separate adult social care precept line on a Bury bill for 2026-27. Adult care is still the council’s biggest single cost, budgeted at £91.154 million for the year, up from £82.379 million.
Checking and challenging your band
Bands are set by the Valuation Office Agency, not the council, and they are based on what the property would have sold for on 1 April 1991. A new house built last year is banded on what it would have fetched in 1991. Check yours on GOV.UK’s council tax band checker.
There is a hard deadline on appeals. You have six months to challenge your band from the date you become a new taxpayer at the property, or from the date the listing officer or a court changes the band. After six months you can only appeal if:
- the property is demolished
- the house is converted into flats
- something changes in the local area that affects the value
Appeals go to the Valuation Office Agency at gov.uk/contact-voa or 03000 501 501. You can separately appeal to the council if you think you should not be liable at all, if you believe the property is exempt, or if the bill is wrong.
Discounts
If one adult lives in the property, the bill is cut by 25%. Certain people are not counted at all when the council works out how many adults live there, including full-time students and some student nurses, apprentices and youth trainees, people who are severely mentally impaired, 18 and 19 year olds in full-time education, care workers on low pay, people in prison, and people caring for a disabled person who is not their partner or a child under 18.
Bury also runs three discounts that many councils do not:
- Care leavers may get a 100% discount until they are 25.
- Special constables living in the borough may get 50% off.
- Foster carers registered with Bury Council may get 50% off.
A property is exempt entirely if everyone living there is a student or school leaver, under 18, severely mentally impaired, or a diplomat. Annexes lived in by an elderly or disabled relative are exempt, as are armed forces barracks and halls of residence.
There is also a reduction if you or someone you live with is disabled and needs an extra room, an extra bathroom or kitchen, or extra space in the property.
If a discount or exemption stops applying, tell the council within 21 days. Miss that and you may be charged a £70 penalty.
Empty and second homes
Bury charges some of the steeper empty property premiums in the country, and the thresholds changed on 1 April 2025.
- Empty and unfurnished for up to a year: full council tax.
- Empty and unfurnished 1 to 5 years: double. The trigger for this dropped from two years to one year in April 2025.
- Empty and unfurnished 5 to 10 years: three times the full charge.
- Empty and unfurnished over 10 years: four times the full charge.
- Empty and furnished, which the council also calls a second home: double, since 1 April 2025. Before that it was the full charge.
At band D, a house empty for six years is billed £7,665.45 a year.
Premiums are not charged for up to 12 months where the property is being actively marketed for sale or to let, where probate was granted in the last 12 months, or where it is undergoing major repair or structural alteration. They are never charged on armed forces accommodation, annexes, job-related dwellings, occupied caravan pitches and boat moorings, or where planning prevents occupation. Apply for an exception by emailing Unoccupiedproperties@bury.gov.uk with evidence, which for a marketed property means a valid EPC and proof of the listing. Full detail is on the council’s empty or second homes page.
Properties left empty after a death are not charged until probate is granted, and the exemption can run for six months after probate as long as the property has not been sold, let, or moved into.
Council Tax Support changed in April 2026
Bury replaced its working age Council Tax Support scheme on 1 April 2026, after a public consultation in November and December 2025 and approval at full council on 25 February 2026. The pension age scheme is set by government and is unchanged.
The old scheme was fully means tested: every £1 of extra income cut entitlement by 20p. The new one uses broad income bands instead, and the change that matters most is that Universal Credit is no longer counted. Only earned income is assessed.
What stayed: the 20% minimum payment, meaning nobody gets more than 80% off, and the £8,000 capital limit. What is new: a flat £40 a month deduction for each other adult in the household, replacing the old sliding scale.
Discount by monthly earned income:
| Discount | Single | Single, 1 child | Couple | Couple, 1 child |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 80% | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| 60% | £0.01 to £100 | £0.01 to £200 | £0.01 to £100 | £0.01 to £200 |
| 40% | £100.01 to £500 | £200.01 to £700 | £100.01 to £600 | £200.01 to £700 |
| 20% | £500.01 to £900 | £700.01 to £1,100 | £600.01 to £1,000 | £700.01 to £1,100 |
| 0% | Over £900 | Over £1,100 | Over £1,000 | Over £1,100 |
Households with two or more children have the same bands as each other: 60% up to £300 of monthly earnings, 40% from £300.01 to £800, 20% from £800.01 to £1,200, and nothing above £1,200. The full table and scheme document are on the council’s changes to the Council Tax Support scheme page.
Protections carried over unchanged for disabled people, carers, lone parents with a child under five, and people receiving certain armed forces payments. Existing claimants did not have to reapply.
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