Camden Council has rubber-stamped a 4.99 per cent hike in council tax, meaning Band D households will pay an extra £1.94 per week from April 2026.

The changes were voted through by councillors on Monday, 2 March when the local authority met to pass its budget for 2026/27. Laying out the proposals, cabinet member for finance and cost of living, Cllr Camron Aref-Adib, said increasing the levy was the “pragmatic” choice to deliver a “budget for everyone”, though he added that difficult decisions loomed for the borough down the line.

Camden is currently grappling with a £19.6mn overspend accumulated over this financial year as the council also faces a real-terms fall in core spending power over the next three years, resulting from nationwide changes to local government funding.

The Labour-run council has delayed the creation of a new medium-term financial strategy (MTFS) for a year, arguing that it needs more time to digest changes from the government’s Fair Funding Review and to respond to looming national policy changes.

As service costs are expected to rise with inflation and “demographic” pressures, the local authority has warned that any further financial strain will have to be met with spending cuts.

The Lib Dem group said Labour was shying away from the loss of real-terms spending power. Leader of the opposition, Cllr Tom Simon, accused the council of using “technocratic language” to disguise financial uncertainty over the coming years, pointing to a funding cliff-edge in 2029 when “temporary” government grants are due to run out.

“Look me in the eye and say this is sustainable — because it is not,” he said.

Cllr Aref-Adib countered that Camden’s core spending power had risen by eight per cent in the first year of the Labour government, adding: “It’s incredibly rich to talk about uncertainty when this is the first multi-year settlement we’ve received in a decade.”

In December, Camden’s chief financial officer warned that next year’s MTFS would be “one of the most challenging the council has faced in the past decade”.

What’s in the budget?

The largest net spend outlined in the budget (£171.5mn) is on “Adults and Health”, which covers services like adult social care. Camden has also outlined specific budget commitments for the coming year, including £10mn for new temporary housing, £4.6mn for tree planting over five years, and £130,000 on street-cleaning — including to buy “high performance” jet washing tools.

The council is to set aside £34mn to continue its council tax support scheme for low-income residents. A further £2mn is earmarked for a Cost of Living Crisis Fund which offers £500 for essential household bills and holiday food vouchers for children.

From April, Camden residents will be subject to a host of new fees and charges as the council starts issuing Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) for littering, fly-tipping and antisocial behaviour. The council is also increasing penalty charges for the removal (£150) and storage (£25) of poorly-parked e-bikes it impounds. Construction firms will also face higher fees if they want to operate cranes over the borough’s highways.

Elections loom

Monday’s session marked the last time the entire council will gather in the chamber before the local elections on Thursday 7 May. Debate over the annual budget gave councillors time to rehearse their parties’ battle lines for the upcoming campaign.

The Lib Dems, widely seen as Labour’s main challengers in Camden, attacked Labour for failing to address rough sleeping and temporary accommodation in the borough, which has one of the highest homelessness rates in London.

Cllr Simon pointed to the 2023 Huntley Street “fiasco”, when the council and the Metropolitan Police removed homeless people’s tents which were then destroyed. The opposition leader also laid into the council for celebrating its welcoming stance on refugees and migrants, arguing this was being undermined by a Labour government “doubling-down on Reform-type policies and rhetoric”.

Labour councillors hit back with similar comparisons. Cllr Rishi Madlani said the opposition was aping Reform UK by depicting London as “crime-ridden and terrifying”. Cllr Matt Cooper said the Lib Dems were “obsessed with talking down Camden”, accusing the party of portraying the borough as a “dystopian hellhole where there are bin bags on every street corner and everyone hates their life”.

“Actually, Camden is one of the happiest places in the country,” he said.

Camden Council: meeting of full council, Monday 2 March 2026. Agenda. Webcast.

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