Band D in Southport is £2,564.73 this year, up 4.99%. Every band A to H, the four precepts, and the £108.50 gap to West Lancashire up the road.
A band D household in Southport pays £2,564.73 for the year to 31 March 2027. A band A household pays £1,709.82 and a band H household pays £5,129.46.
Southport is not in a parish, so those are the whole bill. There is nothing else to add. That matters, because the figure most often quoted for Sefton nationally is £2,583.22, and that is the borough average including parish precepts. A Southport address pays £18.49 less than the number in the government table.
Of the £2,564.73, £2,145.51 is Sefton Council’s own, which is nearly 84p in every pound. The rest goes to the police, the fire authority and the Liverpool City Region mayor.
Every figure here comes from Sefton Council’s own bands and charges page, its 2026/27 explanatory notes and the government’s council tax levels release, checked on 24 August 2026.
Every band, and what each authority takes
| Band | 1991 value | Sefton excl. ASC | Adult social care | Police | Fire | Mayoral | Total | If you live alone |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | up to £40k | £1,190.11 | £240.23 | £195.98 | £67.50 | £16.00 | £1,709.82 | £1,282.37 |
| B | £40k to £52k | £1,340.94 | £280.27 | £228.64 | £78.75 | £18.67 | £1,994.79 | £1,496.09 |
| C | £52k to £68k | £1,586.82 | £320.30 | £261.31 | £90.00 | £21.33 | £2,279.76 | £1,709.82 |
| D | £68k to £88k | £1,785.16 | £360.35 | £293.97 | £101.25 | £24.00 | £2,564.73 | £1,923.55 |
| E | £88k to £120k | £2,181.87 | £440.42 | £359.30 | £123.75 | £29.33 | £3,134.67 | £2,351.00 |
| F | £120k to £160k | £2,578.58 | £520.49 | £424.62 | £146.25 | £34.67 | £3,704.61 | £2,778.46 |
| G | £160k to £320k | £2,975.28 | £600.57 | £489.95 | £168.75 | £40.00 | £4,274.55 | £3,205.91 |
| H | over £320k | £3,570.34 | £720.68 | £587.94 | £202.50 | £48.00 | £5,129.46 | £3,847.10 |
The first seven columns are Sefton’s, from its bands and charges page. The last column is our own arithmetic: the total less the 25% single occupancy discount, rounded to the nearest penny. The council does not publish it, and your bill may differ by a penny either way.
Note the valuations. They are what the property would have sold for on 1 April 1991, not now. A three-bedroom semi in Ainsdale that was worth £60,000 in 1991 is a band C property today no matter what it would fetch on the open market.
What changed this year
Sefton put the bill up by 4.99%, which is the most it could do without a referendum. That splits two ways:
- 2.99% on general expenditure, against a 3% cap
- 2% as the adult social care precept, again the maximum allowed
In cash, the band D charge went from £2,061.70 to £2,164.00 including parish precepts across the borough. For a Southport address with no parish, Sefton’s own element rose from £2,043.54 to £2,145.51.
One presentational change worth knowing. Until 2024/25 the adult social care precept had to be shown separately on your bill. From 2025/26 the regulations changed and it is now printed as one amount with the Sefton Council element. So do not expect to find the £360.35 broken out on the demand notice.
Sefton’s tax base for 2026/27 is 89,044 band D equivalent properties.
If you live in Formby, Maghull or Thornton, add a bit more
Sefton has ten parishes and Southport is not one of them. Neither is Birkdale, Ainsdale, Churchtown, Crossens or Marshside. But some of the towns this site covers do carry a parish precept, and it is added on top of the table above.
| Where you live | Parish precept at band D | Full band D bill |
|---|---|---|
| Southport and all other unparished areas | None | £2,564.73 |
| Formby | £14.53 | £2,579.26 |
| Thornton | £22.20 | £2,586.93 |
| Hightown | £32.23 | £2,596.96 |
| Maghull | £131.29 | £2,696.02 |
Maghull Town Council is far and away the biggest of the ten. It has taken a precept of £947,060 for 2026/27, against £253,590 for Lydiate and £187,496 for Aintree. Those are the only three Sefton parishes over the £140,000 threshold at which a council has to publish its budget.
How Southport compares
Sefton is the second dearest of the five Merseyside boroughs, and sits above the England average.
| Area | Band D, all precepts |
|---|---|
| Liverpool | £2,673.59 |
| Sefton (Southport, no parish) | £2,564.73 |
| Wirral | £2,500.59 |
| Knowsley | £2,488.25 |
| West Lancashire | £2,456.23 |
| St Helens | £2,403.38 |
| England average | £2,391.52 |
| Halton | £2,366.61 |
The comparison that will interest people here is the last one over the boundary. Cross from Crossens or Banks into West Lancashire and the same band D property is billed £2,456.23. That is £108.50 a year less than in Southport, for a house that might be a mile away. A Southport band D bill also runs £173.21 above the England average.
Figures from the government’s council tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026 to 2027 release. The Sefton line in that release is £2,583.22, which is the borough average with parish precepts folded in; the £2,564.73 above is the correct figure for an unparished Southport address.
Discounts and reductions
- Single occupancy, 25%. If you are the only adult aged 18 or over living there as your main home. That takes band A to £1,282.37 and band D to £1,923.55.
- Occupants who are disregarded. Certain adults are left out when the council counts who lives there: full-time students, student nurses, apprentices and youth trainees, hospital patients, care home residents, people with a severe mental impairment, 18 and 19 year olds still at or just out of school, carers who are not the person’s spouse, partner or child under 18, and people in prison other than for non-payment.
- Wholly exempt households. A property occupied only by under-18s, only by full-time students or student nurses, or only by people with a severe mental impairment.
- Disabled band reduction. If someone in the household needs an extra room, an extra bathroom or extra space because of a disability.
- Terminal illness discount, up to 100%, if you have a terminal diagnosis or live with someone who has.
- Annexes. A 50% discount on an occupied annexe meeting the criteria, and a full exemption where the annexe houses a dependent relative.
- Council Tax Reduction for low income or certain benefits, including Universal Credit. What you get depends on household income and savings.
- Discretionary reduction in exceptional circumstances, such as exceptional hardship.
An empty and substantially unfurnished property gets 50% off for one month only, and nothing after that.
The premiums are where it gets expensive
An empty home in Sefton can end up charged at four times the normal bill. From its 2026/27 explanatory notes:
- Empty 1 year or more: 200% of the normal charge, a 100% premium
- Empty 5 years or more: 300%, a 200% premium
- Empty 10 years or more: 400%, a 300% premium
- Second homes and unoccupied furnished properties: 200%, a 100% premium, charged since 1 April 2025
Any period of occupation shorter than six weeks is ignored when the council works out how long a property has been empty, so a fortnight’s tenant does not reset the clock.
The arithmetic on that is worth spelling out. A band A house in Southport is £1,709.82 a year. Left empty for ten years it is charged at 400%, which is £6,839.28 for the year.
There are exceptions, including armed forces accommodation, annexes, properties genuinely on the market for sale or let, probate, job-related dwellings, seasonal homes where year-round occupation is prohibited, and properties undergoing major repairs. Most are capped at 12 months. Sefton’s premiums page sets out how to claim one.
Checking and challenging your band
Sefton does not set bands and cannot change one. The Valuation Office Agency does. Check your band, and your neighbours’, free at gov.uk/council-tax-bands, and challenge it at gov.uk/challenge-council-tax-band or on 03000 501 501.
The grounds for a banding challenge are narrow. Sefton lists them as:
- a material increase or material reduction in the property’s value, which for an increase means building or engineering work and is only revalued on sale
- starting or stopping business use of part of the property, or a change in the balance between the two
- the Valuation Office altering the list without anyone proposing it
- becoming the taxpayer for a property for the first time, in which case you have six months to appeal
A separate route exists for arguing that you are not liable, that the property should not be chargeable, that you should get a discount or exemption, or that the bill has been miscalculated. That one goes in writing to Sefton Council, PO Box 21, Bootle, L20 3US.
In both cases you have to keep paying while it is decided. If you win, you get the overpayment back.
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