Council Tax guide

The Mayor of London’s budget for 2026-27 sets out how he will fund his plans to continue building a fairer, safer, greener and more prosperous London for everyone. It ensures investment to tackle crime, build more affordable homes, reduce street homelessness, improve London’s transport network, provide free school meals to all state primary school children, and keep London as a world leader in tackling air pollution and the climate crisis.

The thread that runs throughout the budget is the Mayor’s desire to provide a helping hand to Londoners to ensure everyone has the chance to reach their potential.

In particular, the Mayor’s budget for 2026-27 prioritises resources to tackle crime and the causes of crime, with a record-breaking £1.26bn investment from City Hall in policing and crime prevention measures.

Increasing council tax to fund the Metropolitan Police and the London Fire Brigade

The GLA’s share of council tax for a typical Band D property has been increased by £20.13 – the equivalent of £1.68 a month. The additional income from this increase will help to fund the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) - whose work is overseen by the Mayor’s Office of Policing and Crime (MOPAC) - and the London Fire Brigade (LFB).

The Mayor has taken the decision to increase the policing precept part of council tax to support the MPS in conducting a major crack down on phone theft, with targeted action to dismantle phone theft gangs on London’s streets. The additional funding will also be used to ensure London can build on the important progress being made to reduce homicides, knife crime, gun crime, burglary and other key crimes.

The LFB does a vital job in London, but it needs more funding to meet inflationary pressures. That’s why the Mayor is also increasing the non-police council tax precept to ensure the LFB can continue to carry out prevention and protection work to keep Londoners safe.

Investing in policing and crime prevention

The Mayor’s top priority is keeping Londoners safe and investment from City Hall has helped to deliver significant progress in reducing key crimes across London over recent years.

Knife crime and personal robbery are both down by 15 per cent in the 12 months to November 2025 compared to the same period the previous year. The number of homicides has fallen to the lowest rate per capita since records began. And this financial year, investment from City Hall has helped to reduce neighbourhood crime by 14.6 per cent, with 16,000 fewer offences. This has been driven by a reduction in personal robbery, theft from the person and vehicle crime.

However, there is still much more to do, which is why the Mayor is investing a record-breaking £1.26bn from City Hall in policing and crime prevention measures in his 2026-27 budget. This is nearly £100m more than last year’s budget.

Investing in frontline services

The funding aims to build on the progress being made and includes:

• Some £4.5m announced for the MPS and the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime to continue to crack down on and dismantle phone theft gangs on the streets of the capital. This includes a proposal to set up a new mobile phone Command Cell to coordinate intelligence and respond to phone theft and robbery in hotspot areas.
• A new £2.4m package of support for victims and survivors of Child Sexual Exploitation. This is part of the Mayor’s commitment to strengthen the protection of children from exploitation and harm.
• An additional £50m to invest in further support for young people, which will help to keep vulnerable young Londoners away from gangs and crime. Hundreds of thousands of targeted interventions have already been delivered by City Hall and the Mayor's Violence Reduction Unit, which are helping to break the cycle of violence and deliver positive opportunities for young Londoners.
• An additional £29m investment to continue tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) in London. This is on top of the record £233m investment to tackle VAWG since the Mayor was elected.

Improving transport services in London

The Mayor is focused on increasing and improving transport services to make London’s transport network better, greener, more accessible and as affordable as possible. The Mayor’s budget for 2026-27 includes investment that will help to:

• Maintain existing concessionary travel and assisted door-to-door transport schemes in partnership with London boroughs and the City of London Corporation. This includes maintaining free bus and tram travel for under 18s and free off-peak travel across the network for older Londoners, the disabled, armed forces personnel in uniform and eligible armed services veterans. The Taxicard and Dial-a-Ride schemes will also be protected.
• Roll out new trains on the Piccadilly line.
• Continue to improve accessibility across TfL’s network, increasing the availability of step-free access and toilets. In 2026-27, TfL will increase investment in step-free schemes to make progress towards its goal of halving step-free journey time across the network, as well as its target of making 50 per cent of London Underground stations fully accessible.
• Improve bus passengers’ experience. Two significant areas of focus will be continuing to build the Superloop network, through Superloop 2, and continuing the transition to a zero-emission bus network.
• Move plans forward to deliver key transport schemes, including the DLR extension to Thamesmead, which has now been given the go ahead by the government.
• Deliver schemes designed to make walking, cycling and public transport safer, cleaner and more appealing, in partnership with London boroughs.

Delivering other Mayoral priorities to make London fairer for everyone

Supporting Londoners through the cost-of-living crisis

Investing in social and affordable homes

Tackling rough sleeping

Supporting Londoners through the AI revolution

Investing in the London Fire Brigade to keep Londoners safe

The London Fire Brigade (LFB) is rated as outstanding in how it responds to major and multi-agency incidents and now responds to emergencies quickly and effectively. This is a positive transformation that has been aided by significant investment from City Hall over recent years.

The Mayor’s budget for 2026-27 will continue to support the London Fire Commissioner and his team with funding to maintain the LFB’s operational capabilities and response times, deliver a Modern Firefighting Training Strategy across LFB, and invest in LFB’s estate and infrastructure.

Investing to transform Oxford Street through the Oxford Street Development Corporation (OSDC)

The Mayor’s budget includes the funding for the newly established Oxford Street Development Corporation (OSDC), which is supporting the development of Oxford Street’s retail and leisure offer, including curating an ongoing programme of activations to provide a world-leading visitor experience. The OSDC will develop and implement sustainable commercial and financial strategies to support the long-term development, activities and operation of the area. The OSDC is not funded from council tax.

Delivering affordable housing through the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC)

The LLDC was set up to ensure that the city benefitted from a long-term legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Mayor’s 2026-27 budget provides funding to complete the construction of East Bank, one of the world’s largest and most ambitious cultural and education districts, in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

The Mayor’s budget provides LLDC with the funding to provide ongoing support for the delivery of homes at Stratford Waterfront, Bridgewater Triangle, and Pudding Mill Lane residential sites, and to work with partners to progress major housing schemes across its landholdings. The LLDC is not funded from council tax.

Delivering affordable housing through the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC)

The LLDC was set up to ensure that the city benefitted from a long-term legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Mayor’s 2026-27 budget provides funding to complete the construction of East Bank, one of the world’s largest and most ambitious cultural and education districts, in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

The Mayor’s budget provides LLDC with the funding to provide ongoing support for the delivery of homes at Stratford Waterfront, Bridgewater Triangle, and Pudding Mill Lane residential sites, and to work with partners to progress major housing schemes across its landholdings. The LLDC is not funded from council tax.

Creating jobs and delivering affordable housing through the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC)

The OPDC has been established to support the creation of 65,000 new jobs and at least 24,000 new homes in west London over the next 20 years. The Mayor’s budget supports the next stage of OPDC’s development project, including progress towards the comprehensive regeneration of Old Oak and the provision of a low-carbon district heat network. The OPDC is not funded from council tax.

Summary of GLA Group budget

The table below compares the GLA Group’s planned expenditure on policing, fire and other services (including transport) in 2026-27 with 2025-26.

The GLA’s planned gross expenditure is higher this year. This reflects the additional resources the Mayor is investing in policing, the London Fire Brigade and transport services. Overall, the council tax requirement has also increased for this reason. There has been a 1.2 per cent increase in London’s residential property taxbase.

Find out more about [the GLA] budget at: www.london.gov.uk/budget.