Parish council statistics at a glance
Parish council statistics show how local precepts, tax bases, and council counts have evolved across England, and the latest figures point to continued growth in both the scale of collection and the number of councils drawing meaningful income from local precepts. In 2025-26, parish funding sits inside a larger council tax system that has kept rising year on year, with parish precepts now an established part of the overall bill (GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026).
The numbers are useful for anyone trying to understand local taxation, parish finances, or the scale of town and parish governance in England. They also show a long-running pattern: more parishes, a broader tax base, and higher average precepts, but with a very uneven distribution between small, low-charging parishes and a smaller set of high-raising councils.
Table of contents
- What parish council statistics measure
- The latest England figures
- How the main measures changed over time
- What the parish precept numbers show
- How parish councils fit into local government
- What the 2015-16 parish breakdown adds
- What to watch in the next set of figures
What parish council statistics measure
At the simplest level, parish council statistics capture the scale of money raised through parish precepts, the number of councils that levy them, and the size of the tax base that supports them. In the England series, these figures sit alongside the wider council tax requirement, adult social care precepts, and the average Band D council tax bill.
That makes the dataset useful in two ways. First, it shows how much parish councils collectively add to local taxation. Second, it reveals how those amounts are spread across the country through the tax base and the count of precepting parishes (GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026).
The latest release also gives a simple snapshot of scale:
- Average Band D council tax in England: Ł2,280 in 2025-26, up Ł109 or 5.0% from 2024-25 (GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026).
- Council tax requirement including adult social care and parish precepts: Ł44.1 billion in 2025-26, up Ł2.9 billion or 7.0% year on year (GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026).
- Parish precepts total: Ł859 million in 2025-26, up Ł76 million from 2024-25 (GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026).
- Total tax base: 19.3 million Band D equivalent dwellings, up 360,000 or 1.9% from 2024-25 (GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026).
The latest England figures
The 2025-26 numbers place parish precepts inside a wider council tax system that continues to expand. The average Band D council tax including adult social care and parish precepts is Ł2,280, up from Ł2,171 in 2024-25 and Ł1,898 in 2021-22 (GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026).
A compact view of the latest core figures helps show the scale quickly:
| Measure | 2025-26 figure | Change from 2024-25 | Source label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average Band D council tax including adult social care and parish precepts | Ł2,280 | +Ł109 | GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026 |
| Average Band D council tax excluding parish precepts | Ł2,236 | +Ł106 | GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026 |
| Parish precepts total | Ł859 million | +Ł76 million | GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026 |
| Council tax requirement including adult social care and parish precepts | Ł44.1 billion | +Ł2.9 billion | GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026 |
| Total tax base | 19.3 million Band D equivalent dwellings | +360,000 | GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026 |
Two details stand out in that table. The first is that parish precepts are small relative to the full Band D bill, but large in aggregate. The second is that the tax base is still growing, which helps explain why total collections can rise even when the average household-level amounts do not jump dramatically.
How the main measures changed over time
The time series shows steady growth across every major measure in the dataset. The council tax requirement including adult social care and parish precepts moved from Ł34,437 million in 2021-22 to Ł44,118 million in 2025-26 (GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026). That is a sizeable increase over four years, and it lines up with the rise in average bills.
The average Band D council tax including adult social care and parish precepts followed the same upward path:
- 2021-22: Ł1,898 (GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026)
- 2022-23: Ł1,966 (GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026)
- 2023-24: Ł2,065 (GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026)
- 2024-25: Ł2,171 (GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026)
- 2025-26: Ł2,280 (GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026)
A similar pattern appears in the parish precept total and the parish tax base:
- Parish precepts: from Ł618 million in 2021-22 to Ł859 million in 2025-26 (GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026).
- Parish tax base: from 8.6003 million in 2021-22 to 9.3127 million in 2025-26 (GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026).
The key point is not just that the numbers are bigger in 2025-26. It is that they rise together: tax base, parish precepts, and average Band D values all trend upward.
What the parish precept numbers show
Parish precepts are one of the clearest signs that a small charge per household can still add up to a large total when spread across millions of Band D equivalent dwellings. In 2025-26, parish precepts are Ł859 million, with an average parish precept per Band D property of Ł92.20 (GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026).
The year-by-year change is useful because it shows the pace of growth at parish level:
| Year | Parish precepts | Average parish precept per Band D property | Source label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-22 | Ł617,889 thousand | Ł71.85 | GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026 |
| 2022-23 | Ł654,966 thousand | Ł74.79 | GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026 |
| 2023-24 | Ł707,620 thousand | Ł79.12 | GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026 |
| 2024-25 | Ł782,818 thousand | Ł85.87 | GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026 |
| 2025-26 | Ł858,597 thousand | Ł92.20 | GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026 |
That progression matters for local finance because it shows parish precepts are not static. They have risen each year in the series, both in total and on an average Band D basis.
Another useful comparison is the share of the average Band D bill represented by parish precepts and adult social care flexibility together. In 2025-26, parish precepts account for Ł44 or 1.9% of the average Band D council tax bill when combined with adult social care precepts, while the adult social care precept flexibility itself accounts for Ł34 or 1.5% (GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026).
That means parish precepts are a modest slice of the average bill, but one that still matters. The overall council tax requirement is large enough that even small percentage components become meaningful when aggregated across England.
A second point is coverage. In 2025-26, 147 of 153 authorities with adult social care responsibilities used all of their adult social care precept flexibility, and 6 used some of it (GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026). That helps explain why the wider council tax bill remains under pressure.
How parish councils fit into local government
The broader parish council picture helps explain why these statistics persist year after year. Town and parish councils were established by Act of Parliament in 1894, and there are around 10,000 town and parish councils in England today, with over 30% of England parished (A councillor’s workbook on working with town and parish councils).
The system is large enough to be visible in democratic participation as well as in finance:
- Around 100,000 councillors serve town and parish councils as voluntary but democratically elected parish councillors (A councillor’s workbook on working with town and parish councils).
- Town and parish councillors represent some 16 million people across the country (A councillor’s workbook on working with town and parish councils).
- Around 80% of parish councils represent populations below 2,500 (A councillor’s workbook on working with town and parish councils).
That last figure matters because it shows the scale of the typical parish. Most are small, but the financial system still has to work for them. The annual spending of local councils can range from under Ł1,000 to Ł4 million, which signals just how wide the financial spread can be even within the same governance tier (A councillor’s workbook on working with town and parish councils).
The variety of parish council responsibilities also helps explain why precepts exist. Parish councils can provide services such as allotments, open spaces, leisure facilities, playgrounds, maintenance of public footpaths, and cultural projects (Council tax statistics for town and parish councils: 2015-16 England).
What the 2015-16 parish breakdown adds
The older 2015-16 statistics give a more detailed picture of how parish taxation looked before the latest England series. They provide useful context because they show the spread of precepts across authority types and the distribution of bill levels among parishes.
In 2015-16, England had 10,181 town and parish councils, 16 charter trustees, and 2 Temples of London (Council tax statistics for town and parish councils: 2015-16 England). Of 10,199 local precepting authorities in England, 8,810 collected a precept (Council tax statistics for town and parish councils: 2015-16 England). That means the precepting model was already widespread well before the 2025-26 figures.
The geographic spread was also broad: 242 of 326 billing authorities in England had one or more parishes, equal to 74% of billing authorities (Council tax statistics for town and parish councils: 2015-16 England). The tax base covered by parishes represented 45% of England’s total Band D equivalent tax base (Council tax statistics for town and parish councils: 2015-16 England).
A compact comparison from the 2015-16 dataset shows how uneven parish council tax could be:
| Indicator | 2015-16 figure | Source label |
|---|---|---|
| Band D equivalent properties covered by precepting parishes | 7.6 million | Council tax statistics for town and parish councils: 2015-16 England |
| Average Band D parish precept | Ł54.12 | Council tax statistics for town and parish councils: 2015-16 England |
| Largest Band D parish council tax | Ł229.38 | Council tax statistics for town and parish councils: 2015-16 England |
| Lowest Band D parish council tax | 0.01p | Council tax statistics for town and parish councils: 2015-16 England |
| Parishes with freeze or decrease in Band D council tax | 3,232 | Council tax statistics for town and parish councils: 2015-16 England |
| Parishes with Band D increase of 0% to 2% | 1,888 | Council tax statistics for town and parish councils: 2015-16 England |
The same dataset shows clustering around low charge bands. The most common Band D parish precept band was Ł20 to Ł30, and 78% of parishes charged less than the average Band D amount of Ł54.12 (Council tax statistics for town and parish councils: 2015-16 England).
At the same time, a smaller set of parishes charged much more. In 2015-16, 466 parishes had a Band D council tax of Ł10 or less, with the lowest being 0.01p, while 335 parishes had a Band D council tax greater than Ł100, with the largest being Ł229.38 (Council tax statistics for town and parish councils: 2015-16 England). That spread is a reminder that parish precepts are not one standard amount; they vary sharply with local circumstances and spending needs.
What the distribution tells you about parish finance
The distribution of parish council tax changes is at least as interesting as the average. In 2015-16, 3,232 precepting parishes had a freeze or decrease in Band D council tax, equal to 36.7% of the total, while 1,888 precepting parishes had a Band D increase of 0% to 2%, meaning 58.1% of parishes had increases of 2% or less (Council tax statistics for town and parish councils: 2015-16 England).
That suggests a landscape where moderation was common, but not universal. Some parishes kept charges flat or reduced them. Others made large jumps. The same year saw 62 parishes more than double their Band D council tax, and 2,489 parishes had a Band D council tax increase above the England average of Ł1.75, with the largest increase reaching Ł229.38 (Council tax statistics for town and parish councils: 2015-16 England).
Taken together, those figures explain why parish statistics are often read alongside the wider council tax system rather than in isolation. The average is only part of the story. The spread across parishes, local authority types, and tax base size does most of the explanatory work.
What to watch in the next set of figures
The current dataset already points to several things worth watching in future releases.
- Whether the average Band D bill continues rising at roughly the same pace as the 2021-22 to 2025-26 run (GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026).
- Whether parish precepts keep increasing in aggregate faster than the tax base, or whether growth becomes more subdued (GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026).
- Whether the number of precepting parishes continues to edge upward from 8,899 in 2024-25 to 8,905 in 2025-26, and whether the parish tax base continues its steady expansion to 9.3127 million (GOV.UK Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026).
- Whether more parish and town councils cross the Ł1 million precept threshold, given that NALC says 150 parish and town councils now raise a precept of at least Ł1 million, up 26 from 124 in 2024/25 (NALC publishes its annual analysis of council tax levels for parish and town councils).
- Whether the set of first-time million-pound precept raisers continues to expand, after NALC said six parish and town councils started raising a precept for the first time in 2025/26 (NALC publishes its annual analysis of council tax levels for parish and town councils).
The geography of parish finance is also worth watching. NALC says Swindon and Wiltshire has 274 parish and town councils raising Ł48 million in precept income, which suggests that concentrated parish systems can still generate a very large total at county level (NALC publishes its annual analysis of council tax levels for parish and town councils).
For readers comparing local democracy, local taxation, and parish spending power, the main lesson is straightforward: parish council statistics are small at the household level but substantial in aggregate, and they continue to move upward alongside the wider council tax system.