Greater London Authority precept on your 2026/27 bill

How the GLA precept appears on the bill

Open any London council tax bill for 2026/27 and you will find a line labelled Greater London Authority or GLA precept, with the annual amount and the change from last year. On a Band D bill in the 32 London boroughs that line is £510.51 a year, up £20.13 (4.1 per cent) from £490.38 in 2025/26. MHCLG's council tax statistics record the same £510.51 Band D figure.

The GLA precept takes the place of the separate police and fire lines found on bills elsewhere in England. The Mayor of London proposes the budget and the London Assembly can amend it by a two-thirds majority.

What the GLA precept funds

The Band D precept for 2026/27 splits across four parts:

• Metropolitan Police (Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime): £334.13, up £15.00
• London Fire Brigade: £76.85, up £5.13
• Transport services: £77.09, unchanged
• The GLA itself: £22.44, unchanged

These are the figures in the Mayor's 2026/27 budget, as published by London boroughs in their council tax information (for example the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea). The Mayor's full budget documents are on the London.gov.uk budget pages.

How the GLA limit works

The government sets the GLA's referendum limit each year in the council tax referendum principles. For 2026/27 the GLA could raise its Band D precept by up to £20.13 in the 32 boroughs, and by up to £5.13 on the non-police part that the City of London pays. The rise was £15.00 on policing and £5.13 on the fire brigade, which uses both limits in full. Going above them would have required a London-wide referendum.

How the GLA precept scales by band

Every band pays a fixed fraction of the Band D figure, from six-ninths for Band A to eighteen-ninths (double) for Band H. On the 2026/27 figure of £510.51 that gives:

• Band A: £340.34 (six-ninths)
• Band B: £397.06 (seven-ninths)
• Band C: £453.79 (eight-ninths)
• Band D: £510.51
• Band E: £623.96 (eleven-ninths)
• Band F: £737.40 (thirteen-ninths)
• Band G: £850.85 (fifteen-ninths)
• Band H: £1,021.02 (eighteen-ninths)

Your borough may show slightly different pennies because each council rounds its own band figures.

Why London bills look simpler

A typical London council tax bill has two main lines: the borough itself, and the GLA precept. Outside London the equivalent bill usually has more: the council, the adult social care precept, the police and crime commissioner, often a fire authority, and sometimes a parish or town precept. Most of London has no parish councils; Queen's Park in Westminster is the exception.

The City of London exception

The City of London has its own police force, the City of London Police, which is not part of the Metropolitan Police. City taxpayers therefore pay only the non-police part of the GLA precept: £176.38 on Band D for 2026/27.

Discounts and the GLA precept

Every council tax discount applies to the whole bill, including the GLA precept. A 25 per cent single occupant discount on a London Band D bill takes the £510.51 GLA precept down to £382.88. Council tax reduction, the disabled band reduction and the severe mental impairment disregard work the same way. There is no separate exemption or appeal route for the GLA precept.

For more on London bills

See per-band figures at Band D cost 2026/27, this year's limits at council tax changes for 2026/27, and the other components of a bill: adult social care precept, police and fire precepts (outside London), and parish and town precept.