Council Tax charges
For a Band D rated property in Woking borough, we receive £307.05 per year from Council Tax.
The Band D amount increased by 3% since the previous year (2025 to 2026), which is an extra £8.94 per year or 17 pence per week.
For April 2026 to March 2027, a Band D property is charged £2,598.04 in total for the year. This amount is divided between local public services as follows:
- Surrey County Council receives £1,938.42
- Surrey Police and Crime Commissioners receives £352.57
- Woking Borough Council receives £307.50
For more information, go to Council Tax bands and charges.
Revenue budget and savings
We plan to save £2.7 million during this financial year.
The net budget requirement to run our services is £22 million. This amount does not include historic investment debt interest and repayments.
Total funding
We expect to receive:
- Council Tax income of £13.4 million
- external funding of £8.6 million – this is made up of £2.5 million from business rate charges, £4.7 million from government grants and £1.4 million brought forward from surplus fund collections
- gap funding from our 'business as usual' (BAU) budget is balanced for 2026 to 2027 – the net BAU budget is made up of our Council Tax income minus our external funding
- Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) funding of £150 million – this is to fund our legacy debt and intervention costs, which are £58 million Capitalisation Directive plus £92 million Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) deferral
The Capitalisation Directive involves additional borrowing for historic debt financing.
Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS)
We are operating in accordance with our Medium Term Financial Strategy.
The 2026 to 2027 budget was set on this basis and includes £2.7 million of approved savings and efficiency measures.
These savings contribute towards our objective of achieving a sustainable and balanced financial position over the medium term.
This amount takes into account the Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) for historic debt interest and repayments.
Council debt and borrowing
The government published our debt figure at £2.1 billion on 31 March 2025. This is the highest amount per capita in the UK – roughly £20,000 per Woking resident.
This amount is expected to rise to £2.2 billion by 31 March 2026.
During 2026 to 2027, this amount will be reduced by the £500 million debt support to be provided by the government.
Our annual interest payments are around £63 million per year.
Council Capital Budget
Our Capital Budget 2026 for 2027 is made up of the following:
- £12 million from the General Fund – funded by capital receipts and grants, no new borrowing is needed from this fund
- £18 million from the Housing Revenue Account (HRA)
Council Housing Revenue Account (HRA)
Our Revenue Budget for 2026 to 2027 is £22 million with a forecast surplus of £1 million.