Council Tax reduction in Scotland: October to December 2017

Council Tax Reduction in Scotland, October to December 2017

This publication provides statistics on the Council Tax Reduction ( CTR) scheme, which reduces the Council Tax liability of low income households in Scotland. A CTR 'recipient' can be a single person or a couple, with or without children, since Council Tax is charged on a per-dwelling basis, rather than to individuals.

The statistics are based on data extracts from local authorities, and cover the time period October to December 2017.

Key Points

• There were 483,980 Council Tax Reduction recipients in Scotland in December 2017.
• The total weekly income foregone by local authorities on Council Tax Reduction in December 2017 was £6.4 million.
• The total number of Council Tax Reduction recipients in Scotland was 12.4 per cent (68,400 recipients) lower in December 2017 than it was at the beginning of the scheme in April 2013. In general, this fall has been gradual, punctuated by small rises each January to March. Between April and September 2017, increases and reforms to Council Tax and Council Tax Reduction exerted an upward pressure on recipient numbers, however the overall downward trend has resumed since September.

Chart 1: CTR recipients in Scotland, April 2013 to December 2017

The number of recipients for each local authority in October to December 2017 is shown in Table 1. The total number in Scotland decreased from 491,760 in March 2017 to 483,980 in December 2017. Several reforms to Council Tax and CTR took effect in 1 April 2017:

• Local authorities were permitted to raise their level of Council Tax by up to 3 per cent, following 9 years of Council Tax 'freeze'.
• The 'proportions' of CTR payable in Bands E to H were increased, thereby increasing Council Tax bills for properties in these bands.
• A new relief was introduced through the CTR scheme, protecting certain below-median income households from the increase. In December 2017, the number of recipients of this new relief was just under 1,000. This new data is classed as 'experimental – data under development' at the moment, to allow time for its quality to be evaluated. We also recognise that the number of recipients of the new relief is likely to take some time to stabilise, as citizens become aware of its availability.
• The CTR child premium was increased by 25 per cent.

Table 1: CTR Recipients by Local Authority, October to December 2017 ^{1, 2}

Notes:

¹ Recipients are as at monthly count date. See Methodology Notes, Section 2 for more details. Available at
http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Local-Government-Finance/Methodology/Ctaxreductionmethod

² Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. Components may not sum to total due to rounding.

Figure 1 shows CTR recipients by local authority for December 2017 in a treemap, using the data from Table 1. This allows a visual comparison of the number of recipients in each local authority. The five local authorities with the highest numbers of CTR recipients accounted for almost half (46 per cent) of the total for Scotland in December 2017. Glasgow City accounted for the highest proportion of Scotland's CTR recipients, with over 18 per cent (89,510) of the total. The other four council's with the highest proportion of CTR recipients were North Lanarkshire, accounting for almost 8 per cent (36,470 recipients); Edinburgh City, had 7 per cent (34,420 recipients); and Fife and South Lanarkshire, 6 per cent each (31,160 and 30,200 recipients respectively).

Figure 1: Treemap of CTR recipients by Local Authority, December 2017

Key:
1 = Eilean Siar
2 = Orkney Islands
3 = Shetland Islands
Clacks = Clackmannanshire
East Dunb. = East Dunbartonshire
East Renf. = East Renfrewshire
West Dunb. = West Dunbartonshire

The total weekly income foregone for each local authority in October, November and December 2017 is shown in Table 2. The total for Scotland was £6.4 million in December 2017; an increase of almost £130,000 a week in income foregone since March 2017, reflecting both the reforms listed in the first paragraph on page 2 and a background of falling caseload and CTR amounts awarded since April 2013.

Table 2: CTR weekly estimate of income foregone (£000's) by Local Authority, October to December 2017 ^{1, 2, 3}

Notes:

¹ Recipients are as at monthly count date. See Methodology Notes, Section 2 for more details. Available at
http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Local-Government-Finance/Methodology/Ctaxreductionmethod

² Weekly income foregone estimates are based on 'number of recipients multiplied by average weekly reduction' for each local authority and benefit type for the given month.

³ Figures are rounded to the nearest £100. Components may not sum to total due to rounding.