Your council tax band will stay pegged to what your home was worth in 2003 until at least the next Senedd term. The Welsh Government has shelved the revaluation it had planned for 2028, saying it cannot afford to cushion the households whose bills would go up.
Around a quarter of households could have moved up a band, a quarter down and about half would have seen little change, its research estimates. For some of those going up it “could have meant paying hundreds of pounds more a year”.
Supporting those households “could have cost up to £80m in the first year alone”, Elin Jones, the Cabinet Minister for Finance, told the Senedd on Tuesday. Legislation to push the revaluation into the next Senedd term will be brought forward next month.
“That’s a serious amount of money at a genuinely difficult time for public finances, with real pressures this year, especially in the NHS, and less funding coming from the UK Government going forward,” she said.
‘We know the current system is unfair’: the minister’s case for waiting
Jones went on: “Every pound has to go further right now, and we’re focused on bringing down NHS waiting lists, helping families with the cost of childcare, creating jobs, and raising educational standards.”
“It wouldn’t have been fair to press ahead with this without fully supporting households, particularly at a time when household budgets are under significant pressure.”
The minister insisted the Plaid Cymru government still wants reform: “We know the current system is unfair. Some people are still paying council tax based on what their home was worth over twenty years ago.”
“That hasn’t changed, and neither has our view. This isn’t about giving up on council tax reform or retreating from fairness,” she added, calling it “a practical call about timing and what we must prioritise”.
The government will spend the time looking at “other, more targeted ways to improve the system that don’t come with the same price tag”, she said, “and we welcome any ideas”.
From 2025 to 2028 to the 2030s: how the revaluation kept slipping
The revaluation has been promised, and postponed, by two governments. In May 2023 the then finance minister Rebecca Evans told the Senedd the new bands would be in place from April 2025, calling the system “regressive” and “twenty years out of date”.
The Labour government then moved it to 2028. By September this year, Carmarthenshire Council’s finance officers were telling councillors that the 2028 date was being “actively looked at” by the new ministers.
The next Senedd term begins after the 2030 election. Both opposition parties say the new date amounts to 2032.
‘Political and moral cowardice’, says Labour, while the Tories want it scrapped for good
Huw Thomas, Welsh Labour‘s finance spokesperson, said: “In opposition, Plaid claimed the moral high ground on this issue; in their Manifesto they promised action. This retreat today isn’t just hypocritical, it shows political and moral cowardice.”
“800,000 households in Wales could now miss out on lower bills because of Plaid’s latest failure to act,” he said, claiming Plaid had walked out of its co-operation agreement with Labour because 2028 “was not soon enough”.
He added: “Now they have delayed it to 2032. They are overwhelmed by the realities of government.”
The Welsh Conservatives want the revaluation dropped altogether. Sam Rowlands, their shadow finance minister, said: “In the last council tax revaluation in 2004, a third of homes went up at least one band, and many went up by two or even three bands, while average council tax bills increased by over 9%.”
“Instead of this cynical decision to simply delay this council tax bombshell, Plaid Cymru ministers should scrap it altogether,” he said, calling for bills to be capped at 5% with a local referendum for any council wanting to go higher.
Whatever happens to the bands, the bills are heading up. Carmarthenshire has already warned of a double-digit rise next year if its schools cannot stop overspending, and councils across the region are waiting on the Welsh Government’s funding settlement in late November.
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