Scottish Budget - provisional outturn 2024-2025: briefing note - 24 June 2025
The overall provisional fiscal outturn for 2024-25 is £52.1 billion against a total fiscal budget of £52.7 billion. The Scottish Government (SG) is not permitted by Treasury to overspend its budget. The remaining £557 million (which represents only 1.1% of total budget) has been fully allocated.
Overall financial position summary
1. The overall provisional fiscal outturn for 2024-25 is £52.1 billion against a total fiscal budget of £52.7 billion. The Scottish Government (SG) is not permitted by Treasury to overspend its budget. The remaining £557 million (which represents only 1.1% of total budget) has been fully allocated to support 2025-26 initiatives. Table 1 below provides an overview of this, per portfolio.
2. The remaining funding of £557 million will be carried forward within the Scotland Reserve. The final figures will be confirmed at final outturn, on completion of the year end audits for all of the bodies within the Scottish Government budgeting boundary.
3. £350 million of the resource underspend was already anticipated at the Spring Budget Revision. The Funding in the Scotland Reserve will be used to support 2025-26 costs, with £150 million held to support audit adjustments (with funding required annually). Full details of final allocations will be transparently set out and approved by Parliament as part of our Autumn Budget Revision Process.
4. Management of funding across years is an essential part our financial strategy. Every penny carried forward will be allocated in full in 2025-26, allowing us to implement measures at the most optimal time, rather than being constrained to a single financial year. There is no loss of spending power as a result.
5. An element of our budget allocation from HM Treasury is non-cash, which is used for accounting adjustments, predominantly depreciation. It is not possible to use this ring-fenced non-cash budget to support any day-to-day spending. Non-cash funding does not flow to the Scotland Reserve and is not included in our headline provisional outturn results. For 2024-25 this shows an underspend of £738 million against a budget of just over £1.7 billion (a large proportion of this is budget is consequentials for student loan impairments which are simply not required at the same level in Scotland, in fact £723 million of this budget remained unallocated at the Spring Budget Revision).
| 2024-25 Provisional Outturn Fiscal Variances by Portfolio – HM Treasury Controls £m | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portfolio | Resource | Capital | Financial Transactions | Total (exc Non-Cash) | Non-Cash | TOTAL |
| Constitution, External Affairs and Culture | 0 | (3) | (1) | (4) | (2) | (6) |
| Deputy First Minister, Economy and Gaelic | (71) | (20) | (26) | (117) | 11 | (106) |
| Education and Skills | (11) | (1) | 0 | (12) | (18) | (30) |
| Finance and Local Government | (321) | (9) | 0 | (330) | 6 | (324) |
| Justice and Home Affairs | (6) | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Net Zero and Energy | (15) | (45) | 10 | (50) | 0 | (50) |
| NHS Recovery, Health & Social Care | 22 | (44) | 0 | (22) | 11 | (11) |
| Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands | (22) | (10) | 0 | (32) | (1) | (33) |
| Social Justice | (73) | (24) | (12) | (109) | (20) | (129) |
| Transport | (6) | (72) | 0 | (78) | (3) | (81) |
| Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service | (3) | 0 | 0 | (3) | 0 | (3) |
| Total Scottish Government | (506) | (222) | (29) | (757) | (16) | (773) |
| Other Bodies within the Scottish Administration | (5) | 2 | 0 | (3) | 0 | (3) |
| Total Scottish Administration | (511) | (220) | (29) | (760) | (16) | (776) |
| Other Bodies funded directly from the Scottish Budget | (2) | 0 | 0 | (2) | 0 | (2) |
| Total Scottish Budget | (513) | (220) | (29) | (762) | (16) | (778) |
| Funding Adjustments | 12 | 189 | 4 | 205 | (722) | (517) |
| TOTAL | (501) | (31) | (25) | (557) | (738) | (1,295) |
* £350 million contingency set aside in Spring Budget Revision.
* Funding adjustments relate to adjustments made after conclusion of the Spring Budget Revision which are not included in portfolio allocations.
Contact
Email: Corporate.reporting@gov.scot