Council Tax information

Council Tax is the way local councils and the police raise money to pay for their services. All homes have to pay Council Tax but the amount you pay will depend on the band it has been given by the Valuation Office.

Your Council Tax is paid not just to Colchester City Council but also three other services. To see how each of them works out how much they need and how they spend it you can click on each of the links below. 

This year, we need to collect about £88 million through the Council Tax and put it into a separate fund called the collection Fund. This is shared between ourselves, Essex County Council, the Essex Police Authority, the Essex Fire Authority and town or parish councils. Essex County Council uses the money to pay for things like social services, care in the community, schools and libraries. We use it to pay for services including refuse collection, activity centres for older people, environmental, planning, health and safety, leisure and recreation.

For every £1 we collect 74 pence goes to Essex County Council, 12 pence will go to us, 9 pence to Essex Police, 4 pence to Essex Fire Authority and 1 penny goes to the parishes.