How your Council Tax is Spent in 2025/26
We collect all Council Tax in Preston, but only keep 15 pence in every pound to pay for our services.
The remaining money goes to the following organisations to pay for the services they provide:
Increase in Council Tax
From April 2025, Council Tax will increase in Preston by the following:
- Preston City Council: 3%
- Lancashire County Council: 5%
- Lancashire Combined Fire Authority: 5.9%
- Police and Crime Commissioner for Lancashire: 5.3%
To view the Council Tax rates for 2025/26 please visit our Council Tax rates page.
Where does your council tax go?
The following shows how the Council Tax money collected from a band D property (£2,467.37) would be split between the different organisations:
- Lancashire County Council - £1,731.85 (70.19%)
- Preston City Council - £370.60 (15.02%)
- Police and Crime Commissioner for Lancashire - £275.85 (11.18%)
- Lancashire Combined Fire Authority - £84.73 (3.60%)
(figures exclude extra money collected for parish areas).
How do we spend the money?
The information below shows how we will spend Preston City Council's allocation of Council Tax this year:
Central services
Council tax and business rates collection, local land charges, central and corporate expenses and democratic costs.
Cultural services
Heritage, recreation and sport and open spaces.
Environmental services
Cemetery and crematorium, environmental health, community safety, street cleansing, waste collection and licensing.
Housing services
Advice, neighbourhood renewal, housing benefits administration and payments, travellers' sites.
Highways and transport services
Traffic management, car parking and Riversway.
Planning and development services
Building control, planning, community and economic regeneration, property services and markets.
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