Fiscal framework: factsheet

22 July 2021: Scottish Government and HM Treasury joint statement regarding Scottish income tax outturn reconciliation for 2019-20

This statement, jointly agreed between the Scottish Government and HM Treasury, sets out the Income Tax reconciliation process and details the provisional 2019-20 income tax reconciliation, which will be applied to the 2022-23 Scottish Budget, once confirmed or revised following the National Audit Office annual audit of the HMRC Trust Statement.

15 March 2021: Letter to Finance Committee: use of provisional Block Grant Adjustments for the Scottish Budget 2021-2022

This letter to Finance and Constitution Committee sets out a comparison of the updated BGAs provided alongside the UK Budget 2021-22 to the provisional BGAs, which underpinned the Scottish Budget 2021-2022 published in January 2021. It confirms that the Cabinet Secretary for Finance has decided to use the provisional BGAs to inform the Scottish Budget 2021-2022 rather than the updated BGAs. It sets out background on how the BGAs have changed and explains the reasoning for choosing the provisional BGAs, namely that it protects the Scottish Budget in the short-term. It also covers the reconciliations that relate to the 2021-2022 Budget, how these will be managed and the Cabinet Secretary’s view on what further flexibilities might be required. It goes on to confirm that, following the OBR’s latest forecasts, the criteria for a Scotland-specific economic shock in 2021-2022 continue to be met, but that this continues to result from timing differences between the SFC and OBR forecasts. 

23 December 2020: Letter to Finance Committee: correction to Block Grant Adjustments for the Scottish Budget 2021-2022

This letter to Finance and Constitution Committee details that the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) advised of an error in their UK Non-savings Non-dividend, Welsh and Scottish income forecasts which determine the Block Grant Adjustments. It sets out a revised table showing the tax and social security BGAs for the forecasting period with the corrected 2020-21 Income Tax BGA.

7 December 2020: Letter to Finance Committee: Block Grant Adjustments for the Scottish Budget 2021-2022

This letter to Finance and Constitution Committee details how the updated UK Government tax revenue and social security expenditure forecasts, published by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) on November 25 2020, inform the provisional Block Grant Adjustments (BGAs) for the Scottish Budget 2021-2022.

In addition, it sets out (i) the in-year reconciliations to the 2020-21 Budget for the BGAs for Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT), Scottish Landfill Tax (SLfT) and Social Security benefits, and; (ii) the final reconciliation to the 2021-22 Budget relating to 2018-19 Income Tax and the BGAs for 2019-20 LBTT, SLfT, Fines, Forfeitures and Fixed Penalties, and Carer’s Allowance. 

24  June 2020: Coronavirus (COVID-19) - funding and fiscal flexibilities: letter from Cabinet Secretary for Finance to Chief Secretary to the Treasury 

This letter to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury from Cabinet Secretary of Finance sets out a request to the UK Government for temporary additional fiscal powers and flexibility, beyond those currently set out in the Fiscal Framework, to support the Scottish Government’s response to the exceptional economic and fiscal challenges brought about by COVID-19.