diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 66511a7365..26eca72588 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,12 @@ For advice on how to use these release notes, see [our guidance on staying up to
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+### Fixes
+
+We've made fixes to GOV.UK Frontend in the following pull requests:
+
+- [#6449: Refactor Character count method to reduce repeated updates](https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/pull/6449)
+
 ## v6.0.0-beta.1 (Beta breaking release)
 
 ### Breaking changes
diff --git a/packages/govuk-frontend/src/govuk/components/character-count/character-count.mjs b/packages/govuk-frontend/src/govuk/components/character-count/character-count.mjs
index 37bb073f97..8f4c5599e2 100644
--- a/packages/govuk-frontend/src/govuk/components/character-count/character-count.mjs
+++ b/packages/govuk-frontend/src/govuk/components/character-count/character-count.mjs
@@ -25,6 +25,9 @@ export class CharacterCount extends ConfigurableComponent {
   /** @private */
   $textarea
 
+  /** @private */
+  count = 0
+
   /** @private */
   $visibleCountMessage
 
@@ -173,11 +176,19 @@ export class CharacterCount extends ConfigurableComponent {
     // When the page is restored after navigating 'back' in some browsers the
     // state of form controls is not restored until *after* the DOMContentLoaded
     // event is fired, so we need to sync after the pageshow event.
-    window.addEventListener('pageshow', () => this.updateCountMessage())
+    window.addEventListener('pageshow', () => {
+      // If the current value of the textarea is the same as what's
+      // in the HTML, don't re-run.
+      if(this.$textarea.value !== this.$textarea.innerHTML) {
+        this.updateCount()
+        this.updateCountMessage()
+      }
+    })
 
     // Although we've set up handlers to sync state on the pageshow event, init
     // could be called after those events have fired, for example if they are
     // added to the page dynamically, so update now too.
+    this.updateCount()
     this.updateCountMessage()
   }
 
@@ -190,7 +201,7 @@ export class CharacterCount extends ConfigurableComponent {
    * @private
    */
   bindChangeEvents() {
-    this.$textarea.addEventListener('keyup', () => this.handleKeyUp())
+    this.$textarea.addEventListener('input', () => this.handleInput())
 
     // Bind focus/blur events to start/stop polling
     this.$textarea.addEventListener('focus', () => this.handleFocus())
@@ -198,14 +209,15 @@ export class CharacterCount extends ConfigurableComponent {
   }
 
   /**
-   * Handle key up event
+   * Handle input event
    *
    * Update the visible character counter and keep track of when the last update
    * happened for each keypress
    *
    * @private
    */
-  handleKeyUp() {
+  handleInput() {
+    this.updateCount()
     this.updateVisibleCountMessage()
     this.lastInputTimestamp = Date.now()
   }
@@ -281,7 +293,7 @@ export class CharacterCount extends ConfigurableComponent {
    * @private
    */
   updateVisibleCountMessage() {
-    const remainingNumber = this.maxLength - this.count(this.$textarea.value)
+    const remainingNumber = this.maxLength - this.count
     const isError = remainingNumber < 0
 
     // If input is over the threshold, remove the disabled class which renders
@@ -325,19 +337,20 @@ export class CharacterCount extends ConfigurableComponent {
 
   /**
    * Count the number of characters (or words, if `config.maxwords` is set)
-   * in the given text
+   * in the given text, and update the component-wide count
    *
    * @private
-   * @param {string} text - The text to count the characters of
-   * @returns {number} the number of characters (or words) in the text
    */
-  count(text) {
+  updateCount() {
+    const text = this.$textarea.value
+
     if (this.config.maxwords) {
       const tokens = text.match(/\S+/g) ?? [] // Matches consecutive non-whitespace chars
-      return tokens.length
+      this.count = tokens.length
+      return
     }
 
-    return text.length
+    this.count = text.length
   }
 
   /**
@@ -347,7 +360,7 @@ export class CharacterCount extends ConfigurableComponent {
    * @returns {string} Status message
    */
   getCountMessage() {
-    const remainingNumber = this.maxLength - this.count(this.$textarea.value)
+    const remainingNumber = this.maxLength - this.count
     const countType = this.config.maxwords ? 'words' : 'characters'
     return this.formatCountMessage(remainingNumber, countType)
   }
@@ -392,7 +405,7 @@ export class CharacterCount extends ConfigurableComponent {
     }
 
     // Determine the remaining number of characters/words
-    const currentLength = this.count(this.$textarea.value)
+    const currentLength = this.count
     const maxLength = this.maxLength
 
     const thresholdValue = (maxLength * this.config.threshold) / 100