About 85,000 Barnet homes are in council tax bands A to D, 53% of the borough against 81% in England. Who gets the Budget's £100 from January and how.
The £100 energy payment announced in Wednesday’s Budget will reach a much smaller share of Barnet homes than most of the country. It goes only to homes in council tax bands A to D, and barely half of the borough’s homes are in those bands.
About 85,160 of Barnet’s 160,620 homes are in bands A to D, or 53%. Across England the figure is 81%. The other 75,460 Barnet homes, in bands E to H, will not get the payment.
The counts come from the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax stock of properties for 2025, which records every home on the list at 31 March 2025.
What the Budget announced
The payment was announced in the Budget speech on 28 October. The government’s explainer on energy bills sets out how it will work:
- £100 per household, called the Household Energy Payment
- council tax bands A to D in England only, for the household liable for council tax that lives in the home as its main home
- paid from January 2027
- up to 20 million households across England
- most households that are exempt from council tax are included; full rules are still to come
- second homes, empty properties and households who are not responsible for the council tax are left out
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland get funding instead and will decide their own schemes.
Barnet is the fourth-lowest in London
The bands still rest on what a home would have sold for on 1 April 1991. Band D stops at £88,000 on that date, so many of Barnet’s homes sit in Band E or above: 33,920 in Band E, 20,370 in Band F, 16,820 in Band G and 4,350 in Band H.
Only three London boroughs have a smaller share of homes in bands A to D: Kensington and Chelsea (31.6%), Westminster (35.5%) and Richmond upon Thames (43.1%). Out of 295 council areas in England, Barnet has the 15th-lowest share.
| Area | Homes in bands A to D | All homes | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barnet | 85,160 | 160,620 | 53.0% |
| Camden | 62,990 | 113,830 | 55.3% |
| Harrow | 58,130 | 96,860 | 60.0% |
| Enfield | 90,180 | 128,400 | 70.2% |
| Brent | 101,370 | 135,110 | 75.0% |
| Haringey | 91,900 | 114,700 | 80.1% |
| London | 2,660,310 | 3,838,400 | 69.3% |
| England | 20,815,830 | 25,754,280 | 80.8% |
In Barnet, Band D is the single biggest band, with 39,640 homes. Band C has 32,530, Band B 9,570 and Band A 3,420.
These are counts of homes, not households. Some of the 85,160 will be empty or second homes, so the number of Barnet households that actually receive the £100 will be a little lower. The government has not published a figure for each council.
How the money will be paid
The government says Barnet Council will handle it:
- If you pay council tax by direct debit and live in bands A to D, you do not need to do anything. The £100 will be paid into your bank account.
- If you pay another way, the council will invite you to apply.
- Nobody other than the council should contact you about it. The government warns people to give personal details only when they are sure the council is the one asking.
Barnet Council has not yet said when its payments will go out or how the application route will work.
If your home is in Band E or above
The government is giving councils an extra £100 million to make discretionary payments to struggling households who are outside bands A to D. Each council sets its own rules for that fund and will publish them on its website once its scheme is ready.
That fund matters more in Barnet than in most of England, because 47% of the borough’s homes are outside bands A to D, against 19% nationally. Barnet’s share of the £100 million has not been announced.
Separately, households on some means-tested benefits may get the £150 Warm Home Discount, whatever their band.
What it means for you
- Check your band on the GOV.UK council tax band tool. Our Barnet council tax bands page lists what each band pays in 2026/27.
- If you are in A to D and pay by direct debit, the £100 should arrive from January without you doing anything.
- If you pay by cash, card or standing order, look out for the council’s invitation to apply.
- If you are in Band E or above and struggling, watch for Barnet’s discretionary scheme. We will report the rules when the council publishes them.
- Treat any text or email about the payment with suspicion unless it clearly comes from Barnet Council.
The Budget also extends the zero rate of VAT on household electricity bills until July 2027 and asks Ofgem to remove the standing charge from gas bills as early as 2027, according to the same government explainer.
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