Households are being hammered by higher council tax rates year after year with no sign of local authorities moderating the burden, a pressure group claims.

The Taxpayers’ Alliance says its analysis shows that on its introduction in 1993-94 the average annual band D council tax bill in England was £568. 

Thirty years later the average level for 2023-24 is £2,065 which, after adjusting for inflation, is a real terms increase of 79 per cent.

Over the past 30 years 244 councils (57 per cent of the total) have never decreased their level of council tax.

From 1993-94 up to 2023-24, there were 9,462 individual council tax increases, compared to 404 freezes and just 363 cuts.

Huntingdonshire council has increased its council tax in real terms by 149 per cent since 1993, more than any other local authority. In second place is South Cambridgeshire council, which has recently gone down to a four-day week for staff.

Nottingham increased its council tax in cash terms more than any other English local authority since 1993, by £1,782 from £630 to £2,412.

Wandsworth has increased its council tax less in real terms than any other local authority since 1993, at just 1 per cent.

John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, says: “Households in every corner of the country are being hammered by higher rates year after year. 

“Three decades since its introduction, the relentless climb of council tax shows no sign of reaching its peak.

“Only by cutting wasteful spending and binning pointless pet projects can town hall bosses bear down on the council tax burden.”