How much is council tax rising in your area?

Council tax payers in Cumbria and north-east England will see their bills rise from April.

Eight authorities have agreed to impose a 4.99% rise - the maximum allowed without holding a local referendum - while also finding cuts to balance their budgets.

The councils who are implementing that increase are Cumberland, Darlington, Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, Northumberland, Redcar and Cleveland and Westmorland and Furness.

South Tyneside, Stockton and Sunderland are all raising bills by 4.5% or more.

Residents in Durham, Hartlepool and Middlesbrough will see the smallest percentage increase to their council tax at 2% or lower.

Here are the rises each council has agreed.

Residents served by Labour-run Cumberland Council will see a 4.99% rise in their council tax bill from April.

The rise equates to between £1.22 and £1.83 extra a week depending on the tax band.

Councillor Barbara Cannon, cabinet member for finances, said the authority had to make "difficult decisions" because demand for services was rising faster than funding.

Independent councillor Robert Benton, who represents Botcherby, voted against the rise and said it would place "a significant burden on working class families and vulnerable individuals".

The authority operates a Council Tax Reduction Scheme to help lessen the bills of those on low incomes.

Residents in Darlington will also see an increase of 4.99%, or between £1.25 and £1.88 extra a week.

Darlington Borough Council, which is run by a Labour and Lib Dem coalition, said the general increase of 2.99%, plus a social care precept of 2%, will help fund rising demands in adult and children's care services.

Meanwhile a discounted council tax scheme for residents on low incomes has been extended.

Bill payers in County Durham will see a 1.99% rise in their council tax bill from April.

The increase is lower than the previously proposed 3.1% after the council received additional funding from the government last week.

The rise will mean tax payers will pay between 52p and 78p extra a week.

The ruling Reform UK group said they had made "difficult choices" to protect taxpayers, including £12.9m of budget cuts over the next year.

Council leader Andrew Husband said increasing the council tax by any amount was "never an easy or comfortable position".

However, changes to the Council Tax Reduction Scheme, which mean people on low incomes will lose their previous exemption and most residents will have to pay at least 10% of their tax bills, drew criticism from political rivals.

Residents in Gateshead will see a 4.99% rise and pay between £1.46 and £2.19 extra a week.

The leader of the local authority, councillor Martin Gannon, said despite £10m in cuts, including redundancies and cancelling vacancies, front-line services had been protected.

He said the increase was required to help cope with the demands of Gateshead 's ageing population.

The opposition Liberal Democrats proposed an amendment to the budget including cutting £200,000 from the chief executive's department and adding this to the highways and waste budget.

The amendment came under fire from Gannon who criticised the lateness of the motion, as well as branding it "unenforceable". The proposed amendment was defeated and the budget passed by the Labour majority.

Councillors also agreed a plan to exempt terminally ill residents from council tax payments.

Residents in Hartlepool will see their council tax rise by 1.98% from April.

For those in Band A properties, that means a weekly increase of 53p.

Hartlepool Borough Council, also run by Labour, will bring back its recycling centre booking system and remove free town centre parking on Sundays.

Leader Pamela Hargreaves said the rise - the lowest in the North East - was a "direct consequence of spiralling children's social care costs".

A decision on the budget was paused last month to allow for a "cross-party delegation" to lobby the government for more funding, but this was unsuccessful.

A 2% rise comes into effect in Middlesbrough from April.

Labour mayor Chris Cooke said: "We're able to target over £6m of new investment on improving people's lives and making Middlesbrough a better place to live."

Other investment confirmed in the budget includes £500,000 for events and £650,000 for CCTV, employing more enforcement staff and helping police on issues involving young people.

More detail on the free pest control service will be considered by councillors in the coming weeks, while further consideration will also be given to changes to the garden waste charge and parking fees.

Residents in Newcastle will see a 4.99% rise to their council tax bill from April in what the minority Labour-run council claims is its "most transformative budget in a decade".

The increase means those living in band A properties will pay an extra £70 a year.

Councillors also agreed proposals to cut £4.9m from the budget with a further £37m sliced over the next three years.

Authority leader Karen Kilgour said the budget would protect services and focus on making the council more efficient.

Labour dominated North Tyneside has also opted for a 4.99% rise.

Councillor Anthony McMullen, cabinet member for finance and resources, said the authority was facing "significant financial pressures", particularly from rising demand for social care and the increasing cost of delivering essential services.

He said the council had delivered more than £21m in savings in the past two years and would make a further £25m in cuts next year.

"Our priority is to safeguard vital support for our most vulnerable residents and maintain what matters most to people in North Tyneside," he added.

Northumberland, run by a minority Conservative administration, will implement a 4.99% rise in April, leaving residents paying between £3.52 and £5.41 extra a week.

Council leader Glen Sanderson described the process of passing a budget as "torturous" but told members it gave "protection" to front-line services.

A number of changes were made to the initial proposals in order to get them accepted.

However, not all members of the council were happy with the budget and Independent Christine Taylor said she was "disappointed" with the plans.

"I find I'm unable to support it because my residents in Bedlington are paying more council tax for nothing in return," she said.

The council said it had a tax support scheme where up to 100% of the amount payable was available for some pension age residents, with discounts for the lowest income families.

Residents in Redcar and Cleveland will also face a 4.99% rise, equating to between 22p and £1.91 extra per week.

Councillor Chris Massey, cabinet member for resources, claimed: "There genuinely isn't an alternative to this budget because of some of the national decisions that have been made."

The minority Labour council will also receive almost £18.5m in emergency funding from the government to help handle budget pressures that it "considered unmanageable".

But Conservative councillor Carolyn Curr said there had been successive maximum rises and residents were having to "live within their means and the council tax should do the same".

South Tyneside councillors agreed a 4.95% rise in their council tax from April.

The rise, which was narrowly approved, will mean tax payers will pay between £1.28 and £1.92 a week extra.

Another minority Labour-led council, leaders said the authority was experiencing increasing costs and demand and if it did not increase the amount of money coming in it would have to reduce or stop providing key services that communities relied on.

Support remains available for households facing financial hardship through existing welfare and council tax reduction schemes.

Residents in Stockton-on-Tees - which is run by Labour despite the Conservatives being the largest single grouping - will see a 4.95% rise in their council tax bills, up between £1.29 and £1.94 a week.

Deputy Leader Paul Rowling said: "We really did not want to put up council tax, but had we not done so there would have been an immediate and severe impact on services."

He said challenges faced by the council included large demand for children's and adults' services, but plans were under way to make cuts.

Support is available for those on a low income whether in work, unemployed or retired.

Sunderland is imposing a 4.5% rise from April, or between £1.04 and £1.55 extra per week.

Michael Mordey, leader of the Labour-run local authority, said the increase was needed to protect front-line services and "avoid deeper cuts in future years".

About £600,000 of savings are planned for the next financial year, including a review of car parking fees.

There are also plans for about £55m of new spending on schools, infrastructure and equipment next year as part of the council's capital programme.

An extra £100,000 is also expected to go towards city-wide events.

Westmorland and Furness is another council opting for the maximum 4.99% rise for 2026-27.

The Liberal Democrat-led authority will also introduce a yearly £60 garden waste charge and increased parking fees. Blue badge holders will no longer be exempt from charges on the Windermere ferry, which are also due to rise.

Councillor Andrew Jarvis, deputy leader and cabinet member for finance, said government cuts amounting to £43m over the next three years meant it would have about £400 less to spend per resident.

The government said this was the first multi-year settlement for councils in over a decade, focusing on increasing core spending power.

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