Cost of living: how to prepare for the ‘awful April’ shower of bill increases

Next month, UK households face a bill surge in which the annual cost of essentials, including council tax and water, increase by more than £200 – and that is before the full impact of price jumps caused by the Iran war hit your pocket.
The “awful April” increases are particularly unwelcome as the financial turmoil caused by the Middle East conflict has pushed up mortgage rates, fuel prices and energy bills for rural households.
Higher council tax makes up more than half (£109) of the £214.10 average annual increase in combined household bills calculated by the price comparison site Uswitch. The remainder is an extra £32.40 for water, £39.60 for broadband, £27.60 for mobile and £5.50 for a TV licence. But the scale depends on where you live and personal circumstances.
There is some respite – including a springtime dip in energy costs and the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap.
Here are the main bills that are increasing, and what you can do to cushion the blow.
Council tax
When the bills land most households in England and Wales will see an increase of about 5%. In England, a typical band D property is going up by £111 to £2,392; in Wales by £113 to £2,283.
A number of councils in England have been allowed an increase of more than the normal maximum of 5%. For example, B and D bills will rise by an average 9% in Shropshire and 8.6% in North Somerset.
The lowest increases will be for Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Rutland and the London borough of Merton, with about a 2.5% rise on average.
In Scotland, bills will go up by anything from 4% to 10%, with Aberdeenshire and Moray at the top end, pressing the button on double-digit increases. The average band D bill is rising to £1,653.
Northern Ireland uses a domestic rates system, instead of council tax. Its councils are making increases ranging from 1.96% to 4.5%.
What can I do about it? Check whether you are eligible for a discount if you are on a low income, live alone or claim benefits. The annual bill is usually spread over 10 months so, if money is tight, you could ask to make 12 payments. If you think your property is in the wrong band ask for a review – although it could go up rather than down.
Water
Metered and unmetered water bills in England and Wales will rise by an average of £33 a household, pushing the annual water cost up by 5.4% to £639. The biggest increase is from Severn Trent Water (10%), while the smallest is Thames Water (0.4%), although this comes after the utility raised prices by an average 31% last year.
Scottish Water is upping bills by an average £42 a year (8.7%) to £532. There are no domestic water charges in Northern Ireland.
What can I do about it? Unmetered customers in England and Wales are billed a fixed sum each year based on the rateable value of their property (in Scotland it is on the council tax band). Whether a water meter will save money depends on how much you use. There is a useful calculator on the Consumer Council for Water website.
If it is not possible to install a meter, you can be moved on to an assessed charge. It estimates usage based on the number of bedrooms and how many people live there.
Water companies in England and Wales offer social tariffs for low-income households. Call your provider for details. In Scotland, if you get a council tax discount, you will also get a discount on water and sewerage. Local councils should apply this automatically.
Broadband and phones
The spring hike will add an average of £39.60 to the annual bill and £27.60 to a typical mobile contract, according to Uswitch.
Phone, broadband and pay-TV companies have been banned from imposing mid-contract price increases linked to inflation, and must declare, upfront, in “pounds and pence”, of any expected rises throughout their deals.
Ernest Doku, a telecoms expert at Uswitch, says: “While Ofcom’s new rules, introduced in January 2025, have improved transparency, this hasn’t automatically translated into lower costs this April.
“With the government’s telecoms consumer charter set to phase out inflation-linked rises from April 2026, pounds and pence increases will become the standard for all customers after this year.
“By moving to a set monthly increase, such as £4 for broadband with providers, including BT, Virgin Media and Plusnet, and £2.50 for mobiles with networks such as EE, Vodafone and O2, providers have created a predictable – but often more expensive – reality.
“For those on average tariffs, this represents an 11.1% jump on a typical £35.90 broadband bill and 13.4% on a £18.60 mobile plan, highlighting how flat increases hit those on cheaper deals hardest, making a significantly larger share of the total bill than those on more expensive plans.”
What can I do about it? You are not typically allowed to cancel penalty-free mid-contract, but if it has come to an end, it is worth calling up to haggle, or switching providers. Vodafone, Virgin Media, BT, EE, Plusnet, and Hyperoptic are among providers freezing prices until 2027 for those who switch before the April increases. Regional providers, such as Trooli and YouFibre, do not increase prices mid-contract.
TV licence
The licence for a colour television will rise by £5.50 from 1 April to £180, while for black and white it is a £2 rise to £60.50.
What can I do about it? You need one to watch or record live TV and to use BBC iPlayer, but don’t if you exclusively use on-demand services such as Netflix or All 4. If you decide you no longer need a licence, you can cancel it and ask for a refund for any remaining months. Support for households in severe financial difficulty is available and there are free licences for over-75s on pension credit.
Car tax
Vehicle excise duty is adjusted each year in line with inflation with the rate linked to the age of your car and type of fuel. From 1 April most drivers will pay £5 more when the standard rate rises to £200 a year. The long-running exemption for electric cars has ended, so EV owners have to pay up, too. If your car cost more than £40,000 when new (or £50,000 if electric) you may be liable for the “expensive car supplement”, adding another £425.
What can I do about it? Some cars are still exempt, for instance, those used by a disabled person or produced before 1 January 1985. You need to apply for the exemption through the DVLA.
Stamp prices
First- and second-class stamps will increase on 7 April. First-class will increase by 10p, or 6%, to £1.80. Second-class by 4p, or 5%, to 91p.
What can I do about it? You could stockpile before the increase.
Passports
The cost of an online adult passport will exceed £100 for the first time from next month. A standard application is going up from £94.50 to £102 for adults and £61.50 to £66.50 for children. Postal applications are up, too – to £115.50 for adults and £80 for children. The premium (one-day) service jumps from £222 to £239.50.
What can I do about it? The increases come in on 8 April so if renewing is on your “to do” list, fill in the form this weekend. If that is too soon, set a reminder for when you need to apply next, to avoid using the last-minute service.
And some good news …
National minimum wage For those aged 21 and over, it will increase by 50p, to £12.71 an hour, on 1 April. For 18- to 20-year-olds, it goes up to £10.85 – an increase of 85p an hour. Apprentices, and those under 18, will be paid a minimum of £8 an hour, a 45p increase.
State pension Under the triple lock, the state pension will rise by 4.7%, in line with earnings growth. For those eligible for the full new state pension, their weekly payment increase to £241.30, up from £230.25, while those on the older basic state pension, the payment increases from £176.45 a week to £184.90.
Other benefits Universal credit and child benefit will increase by 1.7% in April. The standard allowance is to rise from £400.14 a month to £424.90 for those aged 25 and over and single. The carer’s allowance, which is given to people who look after someone for 35 hours or more a week, will go up to £86.45.
The two-child benefit cap meant parents could only claim universal credit, or tax credits, for their first two children. From April that ends and the “child element” of universal credit, worth about £3,650 a year, is available for all children in the household (although the overall benefit cap still applies).
Energy price caps fall … for now
Household energy bills could jump by more than £300 to nearly £2,000 this summer but, in the short term, will dip when the price cap in Great Britain resets in April.
That is partly because the government has taken off some green charges, resulting in an annual saving of £117 for a typical household. Everyone benefits, including consumers on fixed deals, because their tariff is adjusted by their supplier.
While the Middle East conflict has sent oil and gas prices soaring, households in England, Wales and Scotland are shielded by the price cap, which is set quarterly by the energy regulator Ofgem.
From April to June, this means the average annual dual-fuel bill works out at £1,641. From July, according to analysis by the energy consultancy Cornwall Insight, this could jump to £1,972 a year.
Before the US-Israeli war on Iran began, it had been possible to secure a fixed energy tariff that could deliver a saving of several hundred pounds, but they have evaporated and are unlikely to return until prices stabilise.
Fixed deals are more expensive than the April price cap, but cheaper than the number pencilled in for July, so choosing is a gamble.
Top of the Uswitch best-buy table at the time of writing was Outfox Energy with a 12-month deal at £1,760 before green charges are removed.
When domestic bills rocketed after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the UK government stepped in with a £40bn subsidy that froze bills at £2,500.
However, this week, chancellor, Rachel Reeves, ruled out universal support to deal with any future rise, saying that any state help would be “targeted”.