Parish council tax across England has doubled since 2013–14, according to new research by the Adam Smith Institute (ASI). The think tank said this year parish council taxes increased by 8.2%, the second-highest increase on record.
No statutory ceiling on parish precepts
Parish councils are the only tier of local government able to raise a council tax precept without a statutory ceiling or check. Other types of authority must hold a local referendum or obtain special dispensation from the Government if they want to increase their levy by more than 5%.
The ASI noted that not all areas have a parish council, but those that do could have seen stark increases in what they demand of residents.
Sharp rises in specific areas
Local tax in Radcliffe on Trent in Nottinghamshire almost tripled this year, and Preston Brook in Cheshire increased precepts sixfold since 2022, the ASI wrote. It added that new devolution proposals, which give local parish councils even more responsibility, "will only make this worse".
"To make matters worse, this is taxation without representation," the institute added.
Co-opted councillors and inefficiency
Its survey of local councils found that 69% had co-opted councillors, and 24% had a voting majority of co-opted councillors — individuals appointed directly by a council or committee without a public election.
The smallest parish councils are also the most inefficient, the ASI wrote, spending much of their income on administrative costs. Coulston Parish Council in Wiltshire spent 72% of its income on a part-time clerk position, the think tank said.
Recommendations and devolution concerns
The ASI recommends "limiting how much parish taxes can be increased each year, especially for councils ruled by unelected councillors; reviewing councils' expenses more thoroughly; and grouping smaller councils to make them more efficient".
England's first tier of local government has been raising taxes by large amounts each year, leading average Band D precepts to double since 2013, the ASI said, adding that parish councils have "no limit to how much they can raise taxes each year" and "have minimal checks on how the tax is spent".
The Government's English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 is designed to transfer decision-making power from Westminster to local leaders across England. It received Royal Assent by Royal Commission on April 29. The ASI argued that, as a result of the Government's devolution programme, more responsibilities will be passed on to parish councils in the months and years ahead.
The 'worst offenders'
The ASI pinpointed what it calls "England's greediest councils" — which raised taxes by "shocking amounts". In 2026, parish council tax in Radcliffe-on-Trent increased by 179%, to £312.00 for a Band D property. In Alford, parish council tax rose by 64% to a Band D rate of £353.68. In both cases, parish council tax increased to a higher level than the district-level authorities, the ASI paper found. In Preston Brook, parish tax increased sixfold just in the last four years, it added.
The Lord Fuller OBE, former deputy leader of the Conservative Party in Local Government, said: "The Government has awarded itself powers to abolish city councils - including some with large populations, such as Norwich, Peterborough, Oxford and Exeter - and convert them into parish or town councils in a wide-ranging local government reorganisation."
"The lesson from Salisbury in a previous round of local government reorganisation is that these new historic places let rip with unconstrained council taxes greater than ever before, all whilst not addressing the things that council tax is meant to pay for - like housing, homelessness, street cleaning and planning. Local residents are being milked by ever-higher taxes without any constraints to keep the council tax within affordable limits."
"I laid amendments in the devolution bill to protect residents from unlimited tax rises for parishes with a precept of more than 1 million or a population of more than 50,000. The government rejected this approach and instead introduced new taxes, fees, charges and levies that mean that local taxation has become untethered to reality and to residents' ability to pay."
James Hodgkinson, Next Generation Fellow at the Adam Smith Institute, said: "Local councils do vital work, and in my own experience as a parish councillor, I have witnessed the positive impacts they can have on the communities they serve. But they are the only level of English local government able to hike taxes with no restrictions, no referendum, and no external checks on how well the money is spent."
"With local councils set to gain more power and raise ever-higher revenues as services are devolved down the pyramid of government, it is only right that checks on how they tax and spend grow with them."
"These proposals do not seek to clip the wings of good governance. Instead, they aim to establish a framework of accountability and transparency that will foster trust. Residents must have confidence in a tier of government that is likely to play a greater role across our countryside, towns, and cities."
