Form

CTR1: Council Tax requirement return - guidance notes

Updated 6 February 2025

Applies to England

Notes for completion of the Council Tax Requirement return on DELTA by billing authorities

This guidance note is provided for the 2025-26 collection, adapted for the DELTA form ‘ctr1-2025-26-apr’.

The CTR1 form should be completed by

• Shire district councils
• Unitary authorities
• Metropolitan district councils
• London Boroughs

You can find guidance for registering to use DELTA.

Additional useful DELTA guidance.

• It is important that all authorities return the information by the due date (Tuesday 11 March 2025) as the DELTA system will not accept submitted returns after midnight on deadline day without a manual extension from MHCLG. If you are unable to meet this deadline, then please contact ctr.statistics@communities.gov.uk

• Forms can be saved before submission. Forms can also be saved as a pdf after the form has been saved or submitted (ready to certify).

• Forms will need to be certified by your Chief Finance Officer via DELTA. This is done once the form has been completed and submitted for certification.

Important note

The DELTA form follows the same format as in the ‘CTR1_Billing’ sheet within the Excel form which has been provided for bulk upload into DELTA. This means that line references are the same in both the DELTA and Excel forms.

However, the DELTA forms include validation checks after each section (as necessary) rather than setting them all at the end.

The DELTA form can either be completed manually (directly into DELTA) or by uploading the data compiled in the Excel form. This is compiled in the hidden ‘Upload_Data’ sheet. Instructions are provided in a separate document called ‘Data Upload Guidance’. Please do not change formulae in the Excel file.

Notes for completion

The Local Government Finance Act 1992 (“the 1992 Act”) as amended by sections 72 to 79 of the Localism Act 2011 governs the calculation of council tax in England. In setting its council tax requirement, an authority will have taken into account any funding from reserves, income it expects to raise and general funding it will receive from the Government.

Unless specified to the contrary, all data should be shown to the nearest £.

NB: data for 2024-25 are pre-populated. Please contact MHCLG if you want to believe this data to be incorrect.

Part 1a: Council tax requirement

Line 1: the amounts calculated by the authority under section 31A of the 1992 Act. It should include

• its special expenses,
• the aggregate amount of any precepts issued by local precepting authorities or anticipated by the authority for the year in question,
• the Adult Social Care precept,
• and levies.

The amounts should be shown to the nearest £.

In calculating this amount for 2025-26, income estimated to be gained from the use of reserves, the impact of the council tax reduction scheme and the receipt of other specific grants should be taken into account under section 31A of the 1992 Act. In other words, these amounts should reduce the level of an authority’s council tax requirement for 2025-26.

Line 1a:  any amount taken into account when calculating the authority’s council tax requirement under section 31A and to be charged by the billing authority as a special expense under section 35(1)(b) in part of its area.

For the purposes of this line special expenses do not include local precepts or levies issued by other bodies. This amount should have been included in line 1. The amount should be shown to the nearest £.

Note: all levies and special levies should be recorded in line 3a.

Line 2: the aggregate amounts of any precepts from local precepting authorities issued to or anticipated by the billing authority that were taken into account in making the calculation of its Council Tax Requirement.

In particular, this line includes any amounts which are to be construed as amounts anticipated by a billing authority under the Local Government Finance (New Parishes) Regulations 1998 (SI 1998/119) (as amended by the Local Government Finance (New Parishes) (Amendment) Regulations 1998 (SI 1998/3270), by the provisions of the Local Government Finance (New Parishes) (England) Regulations 2008 (SI 2008/626) (as amended by the Local Authority (Referendums Relating to Council Tax Increases) Regulations 2012 (SI 2012/460), or where the billing authority is subject to an order made under section 86 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, which provides for the creation of a new parish.

Line 3: are the amounts calculated by the authority under section 31A of the 1992 Act excluding the aggregate amount of any precepts issued by local precepting authorities or anticipated by the authority for the year in question.

This figure should include its special expenses, the Adult Social Care precept and any amount calculated under section 31A as levies. The amounts are automatically calculated as line 1 minus line 2 and shown to the nearest £.

Line 3a: the amount of any levies and special levies issued for the year or anticipated in pursuance of regulations under section 74 or 75 of the 1988 Act. These amounts should have already been included in line 3.

The main levying and special levying bodies include crematorium boards, conservators, drainage boards, the Environment Agency, garden committees, harbour boards/conservancies, park authorities, passenger transport authorities, combined authorities, sea fisheries committees and joint waste disposal authorities. 

These are just examples, and the list is not exhaustive. It is for each individual authority to identify the levies which are raised on them by levying bodies. Most authorities should be familiar with the levies and special levies with which they have to deal with, given that levies are demands for (in some cases) large sums of money which have been issued to the authorities by statutory bodies, which have been taken into account in local authorities’ calculations of council tax, and which have previously been paid by the authority to the levying bodies.

This part will be followed by validations on lines 2 and 3a.

Part 1b: Tax base

Line 4: the tax base figure calculated by the authority under section 31B of the 1992 Act (or, if appropriate, that section as modified by the Local Government (Structural Changes) (Finance) Regulations 2008 (SI 2008/3022) as amended (‘the 2008 Regulations’)).

The figure should be shown to two decimal places and must reflect any decisions made under sections 11A or 13A of the 1992 Act to reduce the amount of tax payable by granting exemptions or locally financed discounts including the locally funded council tax reduction scheme and it should reflect any changes to the tax base as a result of any anticipated income derived from the empty homes premium under section 11B of the 1992 Act. The tax base should also reflect any reductions in council tax for annexes under the Council Tax (Reductions for Annexes) (England) Regulations 2013 (SI 2013/2977). The figure for 2024-25 is taken from line 4 of the 2024-25 CTR1 form.

Line 5: the estimate of the collection rate, to 2 decimal places, for the year as made in accordance with Regulation 3 of the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) (England) Regulations 2012, SI 2012/2914. This cannot be more than 100%.

Line 6: the amount which the authority has taken into account in its tax base for the year in respect of sums which are likely to be paid by the Secretary of State for Defence for Class O exempt dwellings situated in its area. The figure should be shown to two decimal places.

Line 7: the tax base figure calculated by the authority for 2025-26 under section 31B of the 1992 Act (or that section as modified by the 2008 Regulations). This is automatically calculated as (Line 4 x line 5) + line 6.

The figure should be shown to two decimal places and must reflect any decisions made under sections 11A or 13A of the 1992 Act to reduce the amount of tax payable by granting exemptions or locally financed discounts under the locally funded council tax reduction scheme and it should reflect any changes to the tax base as a result of any anticipated income derived from the empty homes premium under section 11B of the 1992 Act. The tax base should also reflect any reductions in council tax for annexes under the Council Tax (Reductions for Annexes) (England) Regulations 2013 (SI 2013/2977).

This part will be followed by validations on lines 5 and 7.

Part 1c: Council taxes

Referendums

Authorities will be required to hold a referendum if the increase in their relevant basic amount of council tax (i.e., the average band D figure having excluded local precepts) for 2025-26, is in excess of the council tax referendum principles which apply to them.

No referendum principles have been set for local precepting authorities or for mayoral combined authorities (MCAs) other than the police component of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, West Yorkshire Combined Authority, and York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, and  precepts.

The referendum principles are that an authority’s relevant basic amount of council tax would be excessive if they set an increase of:

• 5% or more than 5% [comprising up to maximum of 2% for expenditure on adult social care and 3% on other expenditure] for authorities with responsibility for adult social care services unless they are listed as exceptions below.

• More than £5, or 3% or more than 3%, (the greater of the two) for district councils in 2 tier areas.

• More than £14 for Police and Crime Commissioners.

• More than £14 for the police component of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority,  West Yorkshire Combined Authority. York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, and South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority precepts.

• More than £5 for fire and rescue authorities.

• More than £18.98 for the adjusted relevant basic amount of council tax of the GLA.

• More than £4.98 for the unadjusted relevant basic amount of council tax of the GLA.

• 7.5% or more than 7.5% [comprising up to maximum of 2% for expenditure on adult social care and 5.5% on other expenditure] for Birmingham City Council, Somerset Council and Trafford Borough Council
• 9% or more than 9% [comprising up to maximum of 2% for expenditure on adult social care and 7% on other expenditure] for Newham London Borough Council and Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council
• 10% or more than 10% [comprising up to maximum of 2% for expenditure on adult social care and 8% on other expenditure] for City of Bradford Metropolitan Borough Council

The referendum principles are applied to the increase to the relevant basic amount of council tax in 2025-26 compared with the same amount for 2024-25.

Find details about the referendum principles for 2025-26.

Line 8: the average band D council tax including any precepts issued by local precepting authorities.

This is the same as the basic amount of Council Tax calculated by the billing authority under section 31B of the 1992 Act (or that section as modified by the 2008 Regulations) and is automatically calculated by line 1 divided by line 7. The amounts will be shown to the nearest penny.

Line 9: the average Band D council tax excluding any precepts issued by local precepting authorities.

This is the same as the basic amount of Council Tax calculated by the billing authority under section 31B of the 1992 Act (or that section as modified by the 2008 Regulations) but excluding any local precepts (this is automatically calculated as line 3 divided by line 7). The amounts will be shown to the nearest penny.

The change in value and percentage change between 2024-25 and 2025-26 is shown below line 9. A message will appear under line 9 if it is possible that a referendum may be required. Local authorities are requested to check their figures and obtain their own legal advice as to whether a referendum is required.

Part 1d: Adult social care

Lines 10 and 11 are only applicable for authorities with Adult Social Care responsibilities.

Line 10: if the authority has Adult Social Care (ASC) responsibilities and is intending to utilise their ASC Precept (maximum 2% in 2025-26), please state the total Adult Social Care precept that will be raised to the nearest £.

If the authority has Adult Social Care responsibilities but does not intend to utilise the precept in 2025-26, please enter zero in this line.

Line 11: this line automatically calculates how much of the increase on a band D bill is being used exclusively to fund Adult Social Care. The cash figure is calculated by dividing the total Adult Social Care precept cash figure by the council tax base for tax setting purposes (Line 10/Line 7).

The percentage figure in the second cell shows the cash figure in the first cell as a percentage of the 2024-25 average band D council tax. This shows how much of the maximum 2% increase for ASC has been utilised by the authority. This figure should not exceed 2%.

A message will appear under line 11 if the maximum increase for ASC has been exceeded.

Part 1e: New unitaries / mergers in the process of equalisation

Part 1e is only relevant to new unitaries/mergers in the process of equalisation (including those completing equalisation). For 2025-26, no authorities will need to complete Part 1e. Lines 12 and 13 will therefore not be visible in DELTA and have been hidden in the Excel file.

Part 1f: Referendums

Line 14: a billing authority must inform this Department if they are required to hold a referendum due to the increase in their relevant basic amount of council tax (see line 9). You should select either “No” or “Yes – to be held” from the drop-down box when this form is initially submitted.

If you select “Yes – to be held”, your form should be based on the levels being proposed in your referendum and you must submit a revised form immediately following the result of the referendum. To resubmit, you will need to contact us at ctr.statistics@communities.gov.uk so that we can reopen your DELTA form.

If the electorate vote to accept the council tax that was set, when submitting the revised form, please select “Yes – resulted in no changes” as the data submitted in your original form will be correct. If the electorate vote for a lower, non-excessive increase, then please select “Yes - changes made to form” and reflect the changes in the data throughout the form.

Line 15: a billing authority must inform this Department if one or more precepting authorities in their area are holding a referendum due to the increase in their relevant basic amount of council tax. You should select either “No” or “Yes – to be held” from the drop-down box when this form is initially submitted.

If you select “Yes – to be held”, you must submit a revised form immediately following the result of these referendums. You will need to contact us at ctr.statistics@communities.gov.uk if you need to resubmit in order to open your DELTA form.

If the electorate vote to accept the council tax that was set by each of these authorities, then please select “Yes – resulted in no changes” as the data submitted in your original form will be correct. If the electorate vote for a lower, non-excessive increase by one or more of your precepting authorities, when submitting a revised form, please select “Yes - changes made to form” as this will require you to change some data in line 16^{[footnote 1]}.

Part 2: Average council tax

Lines 16a, 16b, 16c & 16d: Please ensure the correct information is entered against the named major precepting authority. The name of each major precepting authority will be pre-populated.

Column 1: the Council Tax Precept for Major Precepting Authorities. This is the amount stated as the amount payable for the year in accordance with section 40(2)(b) of the 1992 Act. The amounts should be shown to the nearest £.

Column 2: the average Band D Council Tax for 2025-26. This is automatically calculated by dividing the data in column 1 by line 7 and should equal the amount notified to the billing authority by the precepting authority under section 40(2)(a) of the 1992 Act. The amounts must be shown to the nearest penny.

We will compare these figures to the forms submitted by major precepting authorities and will query these figures with both parties if these figures do not match.

Line 17: the sum of the council tax figures shown in lines 8, 16a, 16b, 16c and 16d. It represents the average headline (Band D 2 adult equivalent) council tax for the area of the billing authority. The amounts must be shown to the nearest penny. This is automatically calculated.

Part 3: Local precepting authorities

For full information see the separate document Guidance notes for parishes. Special expenses are not to be included in this section.

Data for 2024-25 has been included in DELTA for comparison purposes. Please complete columns 2 and 4 for lines 18 to 20. This has not been included in the Excel file, so the 2025-26 data should be included in column 1 (number) and column 2 (taxbase).

Line 18 - Column 2: the number of all parishes that exist in the authority’s area, including those not currently setting a precept. This will reflect all parishes listed individually on the form but will exclude Charter Trustees.

This includes:

• the number of parish councils or meetings (or parishes that do not have either of these);
• cases where the parish is in the style of a town, city, community, neighbourhood or village or a parish meeting;
• the Inner and Middle Temples of the City of London;
• individual parishes making up a group created for precepting purposes

Where parishes are grouped for precepting purposes, all individual parishes making up the group will be counted as separate entities e.g., if parish A is grouped with parish B the count would therefore be 2 separate parishes (whether they set a precept or not).

Column 4: the total council tax base of all the parishes included in column 2. The figure should be shown to two decimal places and will reflect any decisions made under sections 11A or 13A of the 1992 Act to reduce the amount of tax payable by granting exemptions or locally financed discounts including the locally funded council tax reduction scheme and it should also reflect any changes to the tax base as a result of any anticipated income derived from the empty homes premium under section 11B of the 1992 Act. The tax base should also reflect any reductions in council tax for annexes under the Council Tax (Reductions for Annexes) (England) Regulations 2013 (SI 2013/2977).

Where parishes are grouped for precepting purposes, the group tax bases provided by the local authority will be included in the figure. Therefore, the authority should ensure that the tax base for groups takes into account the tax base of all the individual parishes making up the group.

Line 19 - Column 2: the number of Charter Trustees in the authority’s area as they are separate to parishes, whether they set a precept or not (as they still have the power to issue a local precept in the future).

Column 4: the total council tax base of all the Charter Trustees included in column 2.

Where an area is covered by more than one local precept (e.g., by both a parish and a Charter Trustee) please make us aware of this in line 21.

The figure should be shown to two decimal places and reflect any decisions made under sections 11A or 13A of the 1992 Act to reduce the amount of tax payable by granting exemptions or locally financed discounts including the locally funded council tax reduction scheme and it should also reflect any changes to the tax base as a result of any anticipated income derived from the empty homes premium under section 11B of the 1992 Act. The tax base should also reflect any reductions in council tax for annexes under the Council Tax (Reductions for Annexes) (England) Regulations 2013 (SI 2013/2977).

Line 20 - Column 2: the number of parishes (defined in line 19), Charter Trustees and Temples in the authority’s area that have set their own council tax precept. Parishes that decide to set a zero precept are not included.

Where parishes are grouped for precepting purposes the group is counted as 1 entity. This line should only include those local precepting authorities setting a precept in 2025-26.

Column 4: the total council tax base of all the parishes or Charter Trustees included in column 2. Where an area is covered by more than one local precept (e.g., by both a parish and a Charter Trustee), the council tax base should not be double counted.

Where parishes are grouped for precepting purposes, only the tax base for the group is included.

The figure is shown to two decimal places and reflects any decisions made under sections 11A, or 13A of the 1992 Act to reduce the amount of tax payable by granting exemptions or locally financed discounts including the locally funded council tax reduction scheme and it should also reflect any changes to the tax base as a result of any anticipated income derived from the empty homes premium under section 11B of the 1992 Act. The tax base should also reflect any reductions in council tax for annexes under new Council Tax (Reductions for Annexes) (England) Regulations 2013 (SI 2013/2977).

Line 21 [DELTA only]: where an area is covered by more than one local precept (i.e., by both a parish and a Charter Trustee) please make us aware of this here. If this is not applicable, please select “No”.

The figures supplied in Part 3 will be compared against the individual parish data once these have been submitted. Inconsistencies will be notified to the authority.

Individual parish data

On DELTA, data about individual local parish precepts needs to be collected in a separate form (‘ctr1-parishes-2025-2026’). Full details about this form and how it should be completed are in the separate document Guidance notes for parishes.

The Excel version of the CTR1 form contains the ‘CTR_Local’ tab. We would advise that if you have multiple parishes that the Excel form is completed, and the upload facility is used.

Submission

Data can be entered directly into the DELTA form or data from the Excel form can be uploaded. Instructions on how to upload are provided in a separate document ‘Data upload guidance’. Once data is in the form, it should be checked, and any outstanding validations resolved. The form can be saved at any time in the process.

Once the form is complete it should be submitted (submit for certification). At that point it will be ready for the Chief Finance Officer to certify. Please ensure that they are aware that this is ready to certify and that they have a valid DELTA account.

Forms should be submitted and certified by the deadline of Tuesday 11 March 2025.

Queries

Any queries about the completion of the form should be sent by email to ctr.statistics@communities.gov.uk and addressed ‘CTR1 QUERY 2025-26’.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

February 2025

1. If this is a local precepting authority it will also result in changes to lines 1, 2, 3 and 8. However, no referendum principles will apply to local precepting authorities for 2025-26. ↩