Every Mid Sussex parish, band A to H, for 2026/27. Band D runs from £2,381.11 in Newtimber to £2,550.89 in Cuckfield, and 76% of it goes to the county council.
Council tax in Mid Sussex for 2026/27 runs from £1,587.41 at band A in Newtimber to £5,101.78 at band H in Cuckfield. A band D home pays between £2,381.11 and £2,550.89 depending on which parish it sits in.
There is no “Mid Sussex” figure that applies to everyone, because every home in this district is in a parish and all 24 of them charge something. The council puts the whole table in a one page PDF that almost nobody finds. It is reproduced in full below.
The other number worth knowing before you read on: only 8% of your bill is actually spent by Mid Sussex District Council. Three quarters of it goes to West Sussex County Council.
The full table, every parish, bands A to H
| Parish | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albourne | £1,613.36 | £1,882.25 | £2,151.15 | £2,420.04 | £2,957.83 | £3,495.61 | £4,033.40 | £4,840.08 |
| Ansty & Staplefield | £1,646.03 | £1,920.36 | £2,194.71 | £2,469.04 | £3,017.72 | £3,566.39 | £4,115.07 | £4,938.08 |
| Ardingly | £1,682.87 | £1,963.34 | £2,243.83 | £2,524.30 | £3,085.26 | £3,646.21 | £4,207.17 | £5,048.60 |
| Ashurst Wood | £1,678.64 | £1,958.41 | £2,238.19 | £2,517.96 | £3,077.51 | £3,637.05 | £4,196.60 | £5,035.92 |
| Balcombe | £1,646.04 | £1,920.38 | £2,194.72 | £2,469.06 | £3,017.74 | £3,566.42 | £4,115.10 | £4,938.12 |
| Bolney | £1,631.31 | £1,903.19 | £2,175.08 | £2,446.96 | £2,990.73 | £3,534.49 | £4,078.27 | £4,893.92 |
| Burgess Hill | £1,648.58 | £1,923.34 | £2,198.11 | £2,472.87 | £3,022.40 | £3,571.92 | £4,121.45 | £4,945.74 |
| Cuckfield | £1,700.59 | £1,984.02 | £2,267.46 | £2,550.89 | £3,117.76 | £3,684.62 | £4,251.48 | £5,101.78 |
| East Grinstead | £1,659.39 | £1,935.95 | £2,212.52 | £2,489.08 | £3,042.21 | £3,595.33 | £4,148.47 | £4,978.16 |
| Fulking | £1,661.07 | £1,937.91 | £2,214.76 | £2,491.60 | £3,045.29 | £3,598.97 | £4,152.67 | £4,983.20 |
| Hassocks | £1,641.09 | £1,914.61 | £2,188.13 | £2,461.64 | £3,008.67 | £3,555.70 | £4,102.73 | £4,923.28 |
| Haywards Heath | £1,635.74 | £1,908.36 | £2,180.99 | £2,453.61 | £2,998.86 | £3,544.10 | £4,089.35 | £4,907.22 |
| Horsted Keynes | £1,657.58 | £1,933.84 | £2,210.11 | £2,486.37 | £3,038.90 | £3,591.42 | £4,143.95 | £4,972.74 |
| Hurstpierpoint & Sayers Common | £1,653.78 | £1,929.41 | £2,205.04 | £2,480.67 | £3,031.93 | £3,583.19 | £4,134.45 | £4,961.34 |
| Lindfield | £1,653.04 | £1,928.54 | £2,204.06 | £2,479.56 | £3,030.58 | £3,581.58 | £4,132.60 | £4,959.12 |
| Lindfield Rural | £1,616.36 | £1,885.75 | £2,155.15 | £2,424.54 | £2,963.33 | £3,502.11 | £4,040.90 | £4,849.08 |
| Newtimber | £1,587.41 | £1,851.97 | £2,116.55 | £2,381.11 | £2,910.25 | £3,439.38 | £3,968.52 | £4,762.22 |
| Poynings | £1,629.23 | £1,900.76 | £2,172.31 | £2,443.84 | £2,986.92 | £3,529.99 | £4,073.07 | £4,887.68 |
| Pyecombe | £1,662.69 | £1,939.81 | £2,216.93 | £2,494.04 | £3,048.27 | £3,602.50 | £4,156.73 | £4,988.08 |
| Slaugham | £1,653.42 | £1,928.99 | £2,204.56 | £2,480.13 | £3,031.27 | £3,582.41 | £4,133.55 | £4,960.26 |
| Turners Hill | £1,692.27 | £1,974.32 | £2,256.37 | £2,538.41 | £3,102.50 | £3,666.59 | £4,230.68 | £5,076.82 |
| Twineham | £1,627.13 | £1,898.32 | £2,169.51 | £2,440.70 | £2,983.08 | £3,525.45 | £4,067.83 | £4,881.40 |
| West Hoathly | £1,660.27 | £1,936.97 | £2,213.69 | £2,490.40 | £3,043.83 | £3,597.24 | £4,150.67 | £4,980.80 |
| Worth | £1,647.95 | £1,922.61 | £2,197.27 | £2,471.93 | £3,021.25 | £3,570.56 | £4,119.88 | £4,943.86 |
Source: Mid Sussex Council Tax 2026-27: what you will pay, the same table that appears in the Council Tax Leaflet 2026-2027.
The bands themselves are national, and they are what the property would have sold for on 1 April 1991, not what it is worth now. Band A is up to £40,000, band D is £68,001 to £88,000 and band H is anything above £320,000. Every band is a fixed proportion of band D: band A is six ninths of it, band H is exactly double. (Bands and Charges)
Who actually gets your money
Four bodies share the bill, and there is no separate fire precept in West Sussex. Fire and rescue is funded inside the county council’s share.
| Body | Band D 2026/27 | Band D 2025/26 | Change | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Sussex County Council | £1,890.36 | £1,800.54 | +£89.82, +4.99% | 76% |
| Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner | £281.91 | £266.91 | +£15.00, +5.62% | 11% |
| Mid Sussex District Council | £202.22 | £196.43 | +£5.79, +2.95% | 8% |
| Town and parish councils, average | £99.77 | 4% |
The county’s rise was 4.99%, made up of 2.99% for general services and 2% for adults’ social care, and it was agreed on 20 February 2026. (West Sussex County Council)
The police rise was a flat £15 at band D, which is the most a commissioner can add without a referendum. Sussex went into this year with the seventh lowest police precept in England and Wales, at £266.91. (Sussex Police and Crime Panel, 30 January 2026)
Those three add up to £2,374.49 at band D, and that part is the same wherever you live in Mid Sussex. It is £110.61 more than last year, a rise of 4.89%. Everything above it is your parish.
The parish precept is the part that varies
The council does not publish the parish element on its own. It publishes each parish’s total, so the figures above are that total minus the £2,374.49 that the county, the police and the district charge everywhere. The arithmetic is straightforward and the band ratios in the council’s table check out exactly.
The gap between the cheapest and dearest band D bill in Mid Sussex is £169.78 a year, and every penny of it is the parish precept.
Cuckfield charges £176.40 at band D. Newtimber charges £6.62. Newtimber is a tiny parish under the Downs, and the scale of it shows in the council’s own precept column: it raised £300 for the entire year in 2025/26, the same as the year before. It is by a wide margin the cheapest place to pay council tax in this district.
The three towns are unremarkable in the middle of the range: East Grinstead £114.59, Burgess Hill £98.38, Haywards Heath £79.12. If you want the lowest bill in Mid Sussex you go to a small parish, not a big one.
What changed in your parish this year
Comparing the 2026/27 and 2025/26 tables the same way shows five parishes actually cut their band D charge, and a handful put it up sharply.
| Parish | Parish charge at band D | Change on 2025/26 |
|---|---|---|
| Fulking | £117.11 | +£40.48 |
| Ashurst Wood | £143.47 | +£32.06 |
| Turners Hill | £163.92 | +£21.39 |
| Pyecombe | £119.55 | +£19.69 |
| Slaugham | £105.64 | +£19.43 |
| Worth | £97.44 | +£14.86 |
| Ardingly | £149.81 | -£4.06 |
| Horsted Keynes | £111.88 | -£1.43 |
| Lindfield Rural | £50.05 | -£1.29 |
| Albourne | £45.55 | -£0.36 |
| Newtimber | £6.62 | -£0.08 |
Fulking’s is the one to notice. Its parish charge went up by more than half, from £76.63 to £117.11 at band D, which took the whole bill up 6.46% while most of the district went up around 4.9%.
The smallest total rise in the district was in Ardingly, at 4.41%, because its parish council was one of the five that trimmed its charge.
A parish precept is not capped. The district, the county and the police all face a referendum if they go beyond a set limit. Parish and town councils do not, and that is why these movements are so much larger in percentage terms than anything above them on the bill.
Comparison figures from the 2025/26 council tax information.
Checking and challenging your band
Your band is set by the Valuation Office Agency, not the council, and the council cannot change it. Look it up on the VOA’s council tax band search, and if you think it is wrong, appeal to the VOA rather than to Mid Sussex.
Before you do, be clear about the risk. A challenge is a review of the valuation, and a review can move a band up as well as down.
Discounts, and the ones people miss
The bill assumes two adults live in the property. The obvious reduction is the 25% single adult discount. Several others are less well known:
- Disabled band reduction. If a disabled resident needs an extra bathroom, an extra kitchen, a room used mainly by them, or space to use a wheelchair indoors, the property is charged at the band below. A band C home pays the band B rate. Medical and photographic evidence is required.
- Annexe discount, 50%, where an annexe is lived in by a relative under 65 or is used as part of the main home. If the relative is over 65, severely mentally impaired or substantially and permanently disabled, it may be a full exemption instead.
- Disregards. Some adults are ignored when the council counts heads. If
everyone in the house is disregarded, the bill drops by 50%. Those disregarded
include:
- full time students and student nurses
- apprentices paid no more than £195 a week
- live-in carers providing at least 35 hours a week
- people in prison or legal detention
- people who are severely mentally impaired
- members of religious communities
- Job related discount, 50%, if you are liable for council tax on a second property you have to live in for work.
Tell the council within 21 days if a change means you are no longer entitled to a discount. There is a £70 penalty for failing to report a change or not answering a request for information inside 21 days. (Council Tax Discounts)
Empty homes and second homes
Mid Sussex charges full council tax on empty, unfurnished homes from day one, and adds a premium on top the longer they stay empty. The rules tightened on 1 April 2025.
| How long empty | Charge |
|---|---|
| Less than 1 year | 100% |
| 1 year or more | 200% |
| 5 years or more | 300% |
| 10 years or more | 400% |
The change worth knowing is that the premium now bites at one year, not two. Separately, since 1 April 2025 a second home, meaning a property that is furnished but nobody’s main residence, carries a 100% premium, so it is charged double.
There are exceptions to the premium, including:
- homes actively marketed for sale or for let, normally up to 12 months
- homes needing or undergoing major repairs, up to 12 months
- annexes treated as part of the main home
- homes where probate has recently been granted, 12 months from the grant
- job-related dwellings, and homes a planning condition stops anyone living in year round (Unoccupied Properties)
If you cannot pay
Council tax support is means tested and based on household income, capital and circumstances. Beyond that the council has two routes people do not always know about:
- an Exceptional Hardship Fund, a discretionary award made under section 13A of the Local Government Act 1992, with its own policy and online application
- a referral to Welfare Together, a partner organisation the council uses to review benefit entitlement and agree a repayment plan
If you already have arrears or a court summons, the council asks for an income and expenditure form and will set a payment arrangement from it. (Struggling to Pay)
Also on this site
- Mid Sussex bin collection days: the three week black bin cycle, and the garden waste waiting list.
- Parking in Mid Sussex: tariffs, permits and what is free after 6pm.
- Mid Sussex house prices: what homes here actually sell for now.
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