Council Tax Collection Statistics, 2014-15

This statistics publication provides Council Tax collection figures for Scottish Local Authorities for the financial year 2014-15 and previous years.

This document is part of a collection


Table 2: In-year Council Tax percentage received, by year to which the bill refers: Scotland and Local Authorities (1)

  2004-05 2005-06(2) 2006-07(2) 2007-08(2) 2008-09(2) 2009-10(2) 2010-11(2) 2011-12(2) 2012-13(2) 2013-14(2) 2014-15(2)
  Percentage collected in billing year Percentage collected in billing year Percentage collected in billing year Percentage collected in billing year Percentage collected in billing year Percentage collected in billing year Percentage collected in billing year Percentage collected in billing year Percentage collected in billing year Percentage collected in billing year Percentage collected in billing year
(provisional)
Scotland 92.7 93.3 93.8 94.2 94.3 94.4 94.7 95.1 95.2 95.2 95.4
Aberdeen City 91.5 92.2 93.3 93.8 94.5 94.0 93.3 93.7 94.2 94.2 95.2
Aberdeenshire 95.3 95.8 95.9 96.1 96.0 95.7 95.8 96.2 96.2 96.2 96.4
Angus(3)(4)(5)(6) 95.6 95.8 96.4 96.6 96.5 96.5 97.4 97.9 97.7 97.6 97.6
Argyll & Bute 95.5 94.9 95.7 95.8 96.0 95.9 96.1 96.1 96.3 95.8 95.2
Clackmannanshire(3)(4)(5)(6) 91.3 92.1 92.6 92.6 92.9 93.1 93.3 95.2 95.3 95.1 95.1
Dumfries & Galloway 94.6 94.1 94.8 95.0 95.3 95.4 95.5 95.7 95.8 96.0 96.0
Dundee City(3)(4)(5)(6) 87.1 90.7 90.7 92.1 91.3 91.4 92.9 93.3 93.1 92.7 93.3
East Ayrshire(3)(4)(5)(6) 91.3 92.0 92.4 92.4 94.1 94.1 94.2 94.3 93.8 93.7 94.0
East Dunbartonshire 94.7 95.3 95.6 96.2 96.3 96.5 96.6 96.6 96.6 96.2 96.6
East Lothian 96.0 96.1 96.1 96.2 96.1 95.4 95.3 95.8 96.4 96.2 96.5
East Renfrewshire(3)(4)(5)(6) 95.4 95.7 95.9 96.4 96.2 96.5 96.8 97.2 97.6 97.8 98.0
Edinburgh, City of(4)(5) 90.4 91.8 92.6 92.9 93.0 92.8 94.3 94.6 94.5 94.9 95.2
Eilean Siar(3) 92.6 93.9 93.7 94.3 94.6 94.5 94.6 94.6 95.2 95.2 95.6
Falkirk(4)(5)(6) 95.2 95.9 96.2 96.4 96.1 96.0 96.1 96.1 95.6 95.6 95.6
Fife(3)(4)(5)(6) 93.9 94.0 94.3 94.3 93.5 93.9 93.8 95.2 95.4 95.5 95.4
Glasgow City(3)(4)(5)(6) 85.6 86.1 86.0 88.0 90.0 92.0 92.3 92.6 93.1 93.9 94.6
Highland 94.1 95.1 95.4 95.5 95.3 95.0 95.4 95.5 95.6 95.5 95.2
Inverclyde 90.7 91.9 93.1 93.5 93.3 93.7 94.0 94.2 94.2 94.5 94.8
Midlothian(3)(5) 94.2 94.2 94.3 94.6 94.1 92.7 93.0 93.6 93.9 93.5 93.8
Moray(3)(5)(6) 95.6 96.0 96.6 96.8 96.7 96.8 97.0 97.3 95.6 95.1 94.4
North Ayrshire(5)(6) 91.7 92.8 93.3 93.8 93.6 93.8 93.6 93.6 93.5 94.8 94.6
North Lanarkshire(3)(4)(5)(6) 93.6 94.2 94.6 94.8 94.2 94.5 94.5 94.4 94.0 93.6 93.9
Orkney Islands(4)(5)(6) 97.3 97.6 97.8 97.7 97.4 97.7 97.6 97.5 98.1 97.7 97.8
Perth & Kinross(3) 96.1 96.4 96.6 96.4 96.2 96.3 97.2 97.7 97.4 97.2 97.0
Renfrewshire(3)(4)(5)(6) 94.2 94.7 94.9 95.0 94.5 94.6 95.1 95.6 95.9 96.0 96.0
Scottish Borders 96.6 96.7 96.8 96.6 96.7 96.6 96.4 96.5 96.6 96.6 96.5
Shetland Islands 96.1 96.0 96.3 96.4 96.5 96.5 96.4 96.5 96.5 96.9 97.2
South Ayrshire 94.5 94.8 94.8 95.3 94.7 94.8 95.2 94.8 94.9 94.8 94.8
South Lanarkshire(3)(4)(5)(6) 94.6 94.8 95.1 95.2 94.9 94.9 94.7 95.6 95.7 95.7 95.8
Stirling(4)(5) 96.4 96.8 96.9 97.1 97.1 97.2 97.4 97.3 97.7 97.7 97.4
West Dunbartonshire(3)(4)(5)(6) 89.4 90.4 92.1 92.8 93.0 94.1 94.1 94.2 94.4 94.5 95.0
West Lothian(6) 93.0 93.5 93.8 94.0 94.0 94.4 94.4 94.1 94.7 94.3 94.8

Source: to 2012-13 - Statutory Performance Indicators published by Audit Scotland; from 2013-14 - Information supplied by Councils to Scottish Government on the CTRR statistical return

(1) The figures exclude Council Tax Benefit/Reduction and Water and Sewerage Charges. They are before any amounts written off for bad or doubtful debt and reflect any correction to liabilities following billing.

(2) 2005-06 onwards - Figures include additional amounts in respect of reduced Second Home/Long Term Empty property discounts.

(3) For 2011-12; (4) For 2012-13; (5) For 2013-14; (6) For 2014-15: These councils have reported their collection rates on a 'line by line' accounting basis. Earlier collections did not seek this information.

Table 2

Table 2 shows the Council Tax in-year collection rates (that is, the amount of Council Tax collected by the end of the relevant billing year, as a percentage of billed Council Tax). In-year collection rates have increased steadily from 87.2% for Scotland as a whole in 1998-99; to 92.7% in 2004-05; to 95.4% in 2014-15. This may in part be due to Councils' more efficient and timely collection methods (for example, increasing use of direct debit and other 'electronic' methods).

Improvements are particularly clear for the local authorities which previously had the lowest rates of in-year collection (for example, the in-year collection rate for Glasgow City improved substantially from 85.6% in 2004-05 to 94.6% in 2014-15). Hence, variation of in-year collection rates between local authorities is now far less pronounced than in earlier years.

The trends described above are illustrated in Chart 2, which shows the increasing in-year collection rate for Scotland and the reduction in variation between collection rates for individual local authorities.

Until 2012-13, the Accounts Commission published the comparative in-year Council Tax collection rates for each Local Authority. The local government community, through the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers (SOLACE) and the Improvement Service, now produce this performance information through the Local Government Benchmarking Framework.

Chart 2: In-year Council Tax percentage received, by year to which the bill refers: Scotland, and minimum and maximum for Local Authorities

Chart 2: In-year Council Tax percentage received, by year to which the bill refers: Scotland, and minimum and maximum for Local Authorities

Contact

Email: Dave Sorensen

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