Market Harborough Council Tax Bands: £2,354.85 at Band D

A band D home in Market Harborough pays £2,354.85 in council tax in 2026/27. Across the district the band D charge ranges from £2,287.14 in the parishes that levy no precept of their own to £2,480.80 in Fleckney, a gap of £193.66 for the same services.

Harborough District Council set the charges at its meeting on 23 February 2026, under section 30 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992. It collects the money but keeps under 10 per cent of it. The rest goes to Leicestershire County Council, the Police and Crime Commissioner, Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service, and to town and parish councils.

The one figure that fell this year was the district council’s own.

What the bill is made of

Source: Council Tax Guide 2026-27, Harborough District Council. The £2,312.80 total is the district average including special expenses. Your own bill depends on which parish you live in.

The district council cut its share by 5 per cent and the bill still went up 2.94 per cent, because the county council, the police and the fire service between them account for more than 92 per cent of it. The fire service took the largest percentage rise of the four.

Band A to H charges for every parish

The council’s own table covers 92 areas and is published only as a PDF. The figures below are taken from it in full. Find your parish, then read across to your band.

Source: Council Tax charges 2026-2027, Harborough District Council, set on 23 February 2026.

The lowest charge in the table, £2,287.14 at band D, applies in 29 of the 92 areas listed. The council says 30 of the district’s 91 parish councils and parish meetings levied no precept at all this year. The odd one out is Catthorpe, which sets no precept but still carries a special expenses charge of £13.74 at band D.

Why Market Harborough pays more without a town council

Market Harborough has no town or parish council. Instead the district council provides the services a parish would, and charges the cost only to the people who live in that area. These are called special expenses, and in Market Harborough they add £67.71 to a band D bill.

The council lists what the money covers: cemetery provision, allotments, Harborough in Bloom, Harborough town centre support including specified events, parks and recreation grounds, memorial gardens, bus shelters, and space considered to be the public realm.

The arithmetic for a Market Harborough band D bill in 2026/27 is:

• Leicestershire County Council: £1,731.79
• Police and Crime Commissioner: £315.23
• Harborough District Council: £148.47
• Market Harborough special expenses: £67.71
• Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service: £91.65
• Total: £2,354.85

Every other area in the district pays the same £148.47 to the district council, then adds its own parish precept and, in a few places, a special expenses adjustment on top.

The heaviest parish precepts at band D this year are Fleckney at £184.05, Shearsby at £160.54, Misterton at £151.77, Kibworth Harcourt at £148.13 and Husbands Bosworth at £144.50. Lutterworth Town Council’s is £136.87 and Broughton Astley’s is £118.60.

One caution about the council’s own guide. The parish precept table on page 13 of the Council Tax Guide 2026-27 carries year headings that are a year out of date, labelling this year’s figures as 2025/26 and last year’s as 2024/25. The figures themselves are correct: they reconcile exactly to the charges the council set on 23 February 2026, and they are the ones quoted above.

How to check your band, and how to challenge it

Bands were set on what a property would have sold for on 1 April 1991, not on what it is worth now. A rise or fall in house prices since then is not grounds for a change.

Bands are set by the Valuation Office Agency, not the council. Look yours up on the VOA council tax band search, and appeal to the VOA on 03000 501 501 or at gov.uk/voa/contact if you think it is wrong.

Appeals about anything else, such as liability or a discount refused, go in writing to Harborough’s council tax team, at counciltax@harborough.gov.uk or Council Tax Team, The Leicestershire Partnership, PO Box 10004, Hinckley, Leicestershire, LE10 9EJ. Keep paying your instalments while an appeal is outstanding. Any overpayment is set against your balance and the rest refunded.

Discounts, premiums and support

The single person discount is 25 per cent. A discount may also apply if an adult in the household is a full-time student, student nurse, apprentice or foreign language assistant, an 18 or 19 year old still at or just out of school, a hospital or care home resident, severely mentally impaired, living in a hostel or night shelter, a low-paid care worker employed by a charity, a carer for a disabled person who is not their partner or a child under 18, a member of a religious community, in detention, or a member of a visiting force. A care leaver discount also exists.

Premiums, on the other hand, add to the bill.

• Second homes carry a 100 per cent premium from 1 April 2026, doubling the bill.
• An unoccupied and unfurnished property empty for one to five years carries a 100 per cent premium, five to ten years 200 per cent, and over ten years 300 per cent, which means four times the standard charge.
• Since April 2025 an unoccupied and unfurnished property no longer gets a one-month 100 per cent discount.
• Exceptions exist, including properties being actively marketed for sale or rent and those undergoing major repair, generally for up to a year.

An annexe occupied by a relative of the person liable on the main home gets a 50 per cent discount. A property may drop a band if a disabled resident uses a wheelchair indoors or needs an extra room, bathroom or kitchen.

Under the council’s 2026/27 Council Tax Support scheme, everyone of working age has to pay at least 15 per cent of their charge, however low their income. Pension-age claimants and war widows are assessed on the full charge. Savings over £16,000 rule out a claim unless you get guarantee Pension Credit. A Universal Credit claim does not include council tax support, so it must be claimed separately. (Council Tax Support)

Backdating is limited to six months for working-age claimants and three months for pensioners. If you get a discount or exemption you must report any change of circumstances within 21 days, or risk a penalty charge.

Paying, and getting help

Instalments can be spread over 12 months instead of ten, on written request to counciltax@harborough.gov.uk or by calling 01858 828282. A request for 12 instalments carries over automatically to the following year.

If you are struggling, the council says it can refer you to a Citizens Advice money adviser or its own benefits team, agree an alternative payment arrangement, or advise on discounts and reliefs. Its own advice is not to wait until the right to pay by instalments has been lost.

The council collecting this bill was due to go in 2028, and that is now under review

The Government decided on 16 July 2026 that from April 2028 two unitary councils would replace all ten existing councils across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, Harborough District Council among them. On 7 September 2026 that decision was put under review, so the date and the split below are no longer settled.

• Most of Harborough district was to be served by a new unitary council for the remaining area of Leicestershire and Rutland.
• Great Glen, Little Stretton, Newton Harcourt, Scraptoft, Stoughton, Thurnby and Bushby, Willoughby Waterleys and Wistow were to be served by a new unitary council covering Leicester, Oadby and Wigston, and parts of Blaby, Charnwood and Harborough.

The council opposed the split. Its leader, Cllr Whelband, called the decision “a slap in the face for the people of Harborough” and said the council is “looking at every option available to us, which includes legal challenge”. (Harborough District Council, 16 July 2026)

Nothing changes for bills in the meantime, and the review has no set reporting date. Updates are published at futureLLRcouncils.gov.uk.

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