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Tower Hamlets: your area
Last updated . Figures refresh every night. How each figure is worked out.
Tower Hamlets sets a Band D council tax of £1,838 for 2026-27, 291 of 296 councils in England from the highest. Police: Metropolitan Police. Fire and rescue: London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority. Health: NHS North East London Integrated Care Board. This page links to everything the site holds on the area; the full bill, the report card and parking each have a page of their own.
Figures for the 2026–27 financial year. Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Key figures
- £1,838Band D council tax, 2026-27 up on a year earlier: +£83 (+4.7%) vs 2025-26
- £19.8mParking surplus, 2025-26
- 17.0%Household waste recycled, 2024-25
- 8%A roads where maintenance should be considered, 2024-25
- 28%Reserves as a share of spending, 2025-26
Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
What is the council tax in Tower Hamlets?
Band D is £1,838 a year for 2026-27, and Band A, the lowest, £1,225. That is £573 below the England average of £2,411, 291 of 296 in England from the highest.
Of a Band D bill, £1,327 goes to Tower Hamlets.
Every band, who gets the money and how Tower Hamlets compares
Where your council tax goes: from your bill to each service
How does the council compare?
- Council tax rise this year4.7%Lower than the England figure of 4.9%
- Council tax per head£615Lower than the England figure of £796
- Ombudsman uphold rate91% (31 of 34)Higher than the England figure of 86%
- Reserves as a share of net spending28%Lower than the England figure of 50%
- Borrowing per home£456Lower than the England figure of £3,474
- Accounts, 2024-25Delivered by backstop92% of bodies had an opinion delivered by the backstop date
- Ofsted, children's servicesOutstanding73% of English councils are good or outstanding
- CQC, adult social careGood62% of assessed councils are good or outstanding
- A roads needing maintenance considered8%Higher than the England figure of 5%
- Recycling rate17.0%Lower than the England figure of 42.0%
- Major planning decisions on time91.7%Higher than the England figure of 91.0%
Each figure is set against the figure for England as a whole. They are plain comparisons, one measure at a time: there is no overall score and no ranking of councils. Higher is not always better or worse; what each measure does and does not show is on the methodology page.
The full report card: complaints, finances, audit, pay and services
Roads, bins and planning
| Measure | Figure | Period |
|---|---|---|
A roads where maintenance should be consideredDetails for A roads where maintenance should be considered | 8% | 2024-25 |
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B and C roads where maintenance should be consideredDetails for B and C roads where maintenance should be considered | 12% | 2024-25 |
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Unclassified roads where maintenance should be consideredDetails for Unclassified roads where maintenance should be considered | 11% | 2024-25 |
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Household waste reused, recycled or compostedDetails for Household waste reused, recycled or composted | 17.0% | 2024-25 |
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Major planning decisions made on timeDetails for Major planning decisions made on time | 91.7% | 24 months to end of June 2026 |
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Road condition is from the Department for Transport; each figure is compared with England as a whole in the report card.
What does the council make from parking?
| Authority | Year | Income | Surplus |
|---|---|---|---|
Tower HamletsDetails for Tower Hamlets | 2025-26 | £50.5m | £19.8m |
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What the law lets a council spend a parking surplus on is on parking fines and council parking income.
Who is your MP?
A council area can span several constituencies, so your MP depends on your address. Enter your postcode in the box at the top of this page to see your MP and what their office cost, find any MP by name or constituency, or see every constituency and its MP on the MP map.
How much crime is recorded here?
In the 12 months to June 2026, police recorded 112.5 crimes per 1,000 residents in Tower Hamlets, excluding anti-social behaviour, against 82.4 across England.
Tower Hamlets on the crime map, down to streets of a few hundred homes
Your police precept
In London the police precept is part of the Mayor’s precept on your bill. It funds Metropolitan Police, which has £4.0bn in all for 2026-27. The precept is set once for the whole force area and spent across the whole force area, so the crime figures above for Tower Hamlets are not what its precept bought.
Metropolitan Police: funding, precept and results for the whole force
Who runs police, fire, health and ambulances here?
| Service | Body | Latest | Per resident |
|---|---|---|---|
PoliceDetails for Police | Metropolitan Police | £4.0bn (2026-27) | £440 |
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Fire and rescueDetails for Fire and rescue | London Fire Brigade | £576m (2025-26) | £63.15 |
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AmbulanceDetails for Ambulance | London Ambulance Service NHS Trust | £756m (2024-25) | £82.58 |
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NHSDetails for NHS | NHS North East London Integrated Care Board | £6.7bn (2028-29) | £3,183 |
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RoadsDetails for Roads | Tower Hamlets | £3m (2025-26) | £8.08 |
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SchoolsDetails for Schools | Tower Hamlets | £329m (2026-27) | £983 |
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Council spendingDetails for Council spending | Tower Hamlets | £986m (2025-26) | £2,950 |
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Social careDetails for Social care | Tower Hamlets | £250m (2024-25) | £745 |
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HousingDetails for Housing | Tower Hamlets | £46m (2025-26) | £137 |
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Waste and recyclingDetails for Waste and recycling | Tower Hamlets | not published | — |
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Each body serves a wider area than Tower Hamlets, and its money is for the whole of that area. Its page has its funding over time and what is recorded alongside it; public services near you looks them up for any postcode. Water is not covered yet: see Discover Water.
Which bodies cover Tower Hamlets: ONS lookups of local authorities to police force areas, fire and rescue authorities, integrated care boards and local health boards (Open Government Licence v3.0); where an area is split between integrated care boards, the one covering most residents is named.
How does Tower Hamlets look against other councils?
See Tower Hamlets on the council map, alongside every other council on council tax, complaints, reserves, audit and inspections, or browse every council.
Common questions
- How much is council tax in Tower Hamlets?
- Band D is £1,838 a year for 2026-27. Every band.
- Which police force covers Tower Hamlets?
- Metropolitan Police police force area. Fire and rescue: London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority.
Sources for this page
| Source | Publisher | Figures as of | Updated | Licence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England | Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government | the 2026–27 financial year | annual | Open Government Licence v3.0 |
| Local authority revenue expenditure and financing: revenue outturn multi-year data set (RO2 parking) | Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government | the 2025–26 financial year | annual | Open Government Licence v3.0 |
Each source's figures are used under the licence shown. Our own words, analysis, charts and derived calculations are ours, under CC BY 4.0.