The Lesser Redpoll breeds in the British Isles, around the Alps and around the North Sea from northern France to south-east Norway. It has spread in the last 50 or so years into southern Scandinavia and this has led to its recognition as a species in its own right.

Previously, it was treated as a subspecies of Common Redpoll Carduelis flammea but this expansion brought the two subspecies cabaret and flammea into direct contact. When this happened, it was observed that the two subspecies did not hybridise and the subspecies were split. The reference for this is "The taxonomic status of Lesser Redpoll" 2001 by Alan Knox et al. in British Birds, 94: 260-267.