The money collected through Council Tax helps pay for a proportion of Devon County Council services for more than 833,000 people in the Devon county area.

Council Tax is paid to the local authority (council) for the area where you live. To pay Council Tax, contact your local council. They’ll register you and send you a Council Tax bill. They’ll also tell you how and when to pay.

For 2025/26, for an average band D property, the Council Tax charge from DCC will be £1,801.26 (£1,715.67 in 2024/25). This is an increase of 4.99% or £85.59.

The provisional local government finance settlement for 2025/26 was published by the government on 18 December 2024. The final settlement figures were published on 3 February 2025, in advance of Parliamentary debate on 5 February 2025.

The local government finance settlement for 2025/26 is a one year settlement, being the first under the new government following the General Election in July 2024. The government is currently undertaking a full Spending Review which is due to conclude in spring 2025, and it has indicated this will inform multi-year settlement for 2026/27.

It continues to be a period of significant challenge and change for local government. The cost of services continues to increase through inflation, demand and market pressures. Devon County Council is addressing these challenges through a focus on becoming stronger and more financially sustainable by:

achieving value for money and financial sustainability
supporting and empowering staff to deliver the best outcomes for the people of Devon
improving the arrangements for decision-making and governance

The Council’s Medium Term Financial Plan for 2025/26 is based on projections related to delivering services in the County Council’s current form within a two-tier local government structure for Devon. There are no presumptions about the potential impact of local government reorganisation at this stage, following the government’s December 2024 White Paper on Devolution.

Council Tax is collected by your district council and distributed across a number of local public authorities:

Devon County Council uses Council Tax to provide education, roads, care for older people and people with disabilities, child protection, youth services, libraries, and recycling centres and waste disposal services.
your district council uses Council Tax to provide refuse collection, kerbside recycling, housing, planning, street cleaning and leisure services.
Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner uses Council Tax to provide law and order and crime reduction.
Devon & Somerset Fire and Rescue Authority uses Council Tax to provide fire prevention and fire and rescue services.
Your local town and parish councils use Council Tax to provide local amenities.

Your Council Tax band is decided by the listing officer from the Valuation Office and is based on the open market value of a property on 1 April 1991. All properties are placed into one of eight bands and the band for your home will be shown on your bill. In some cases, a Council Tax bill is decided on the number of adults living in the household.

Devon County Council charge for each band

Band A	Band B	Band C	Band D	Band E	Band F	Band G	Band H
£1,200.84	£1,400.98	£1,601.12	£1,801.26	£2,201.54	£2,601.82	£3,002.10	£3,602.52

The total amount you will pay includes taxes payable to the Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon and Cornwall, Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Authority, your local district council and in some cases your local parish or town council.

Devon County Council is a precepting authority and does not administrate council tax. Enquiries about payments, rebates or benefits should be made to your district or city council.

Adult social care 2025/26

Council Tax bills for 2025/26 include the adult social care component.

More information about Adult social care 2025/26.

How your Council Tax is spent

Devon County Council plans to spend just under £1,987 million (gross) this year (just under £1,837 million in 2024/25) on providing services to more than 833,000 people in Devon.

Just over £1,415 million (just under £1,313 million 2024/25) of this comes from income we receive from government grants, business rates, fees and charges and distribution of previous year’s surplus of Council Tax which leaves a council tax requirement for 2025/26 of £572.489 million (£523.974 million 2024/25).

More information about our spending plans for 2025/26 can be found at Budgets.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government statement

The Secretary of State made an offer to adult social care authorities. (‘Adult social care authorities’ are local authorities which have functions under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014, namely county councils in England, district councils for an area in England for which there is no county council, London borough councils, the Common Council of the City of London and the Council of the Isles of Scilly.)

The offer was the option of an adult social care authority being able to charge an additional ‘precept’ on its council tax without holding a referendum, to assist the authority in meeting its expenditure on adult social care from the financial year 2016/17. It was originally made in respect of the financial years up to and including 2019/20. If the Secretary of State chooses to renew this offer in respect of a particular financial year, this is subject to the approval of the House of Commons.