Council Tax banding queries: FOI release

Information requested

Request 1 - 202600512895:

I would like to see any mention of Council Tax band differences between Scotland and England which are discussed with or communicated to or by the First Minister or where any comparison is being made about relative cost of Council Tax bands across the UK including guidance of information or guidance provided by his SPADs.

Request 2 - 202600512899:

On 26 February in Holyrood the First Minister made a comment about Council Tax bandings. Can you please provide details as to what information was used to inform the FM in order to make his claim in bold, which have been taken from the official records of parliament.

Please include – what the average Council Tax paid in Scotland is, what the average Council Tax paid in England/England and Wales and in Northern Ireland and also where I can find the source of this information.

‘I think that the Government’s approach in its budget and in its social security expenditure is fair and affordable. What the Government is doing in relation to cost of living support, for example, has a whole variety of different elements to it. It results in people in Scotland paying lower Council Tax, on average, than people in other parts of the United Kingdom. It results in the abolition of peak rail fares, which means that, if a person is a commuter between Edinburgh and Glasgow, their travel costs have been halved as a consequence of the Government’s action.’

Response

I have combined the responses to both your recent Council Tax Freedom of Information requests because they both relate to Council Tax comparisons to England, and other parts of the United Kingdom.

I would highlight that the First Minister’s comments relate to ‘average’ Council Tax, which refers to the average Council Tax bill, rather than Banding comparisons. Across the UK, average Council Tax bill comparisons reflect what households actually pay. While band‑to‑band comparisons are not truly like‑for‑like because England, Scotland, and Wales use different band thresholds and structures, limiting their comparability.

In the terms of your request, you have asked for any mention of UK wide (including England and Scotland) Council Tax band comparisons that were discussed with, communicated to, or provided to or by the First Minister. While the aim of the Scottish Government is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide the information you have requested because the Scottish Government does not hold the information under the terms of your request. Therefore, we are unable to comply with your request under section 17(1) of FOISA.

While we do not hold any communication, to or from, the First Minister in relation to the bandings, we do hold some information in relation to comparisons for the average Council Tax bill. Under the terms of your second request, this is the information which has informed Scottish Government official’s advice to the First Minister.

The Scottish Government holds the following information that falls within the scope of your request:

• an internal email thread dated January 2026 concerning the provision of statistical information to support a Ministerial briefing.

Information that is being released can be found in the Annex to this response. Some of the information identified has been redacted or withheld by application of the FOISA Section 30(c) exemption – Prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs.

Section 30(c) provides that information is exempt if its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the effective conduct of public affairs. FMQ briefings contain preparatory material intended to support the First Minister in parliamentary proceedings, often on issues that recur over time. Disclosure of this material would risk undermining the effective conduct of parliamentary business by revealing internal preparation and approaches that are not intended for public release.

Furthermore an exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to a small amount of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, i.e. names/contact details of individuals, and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

Average Council Tax Bill (Scotland, England and Wales)

Further to the information released in the Annex, under the terms of your second request you have also requested the sources for comparisons.

Scotland

The Scottish Government’s Council Tax datasets include information on average Council Tax charges in Scotland, https://www.gov.scot/publications/council-tax-datasets/

The published datasets show the following average Council Tax billed per dwelling in Scotland:

• 2025‑26: £1,426
• 2026‑27: £1,529

Published Council Tax statistics also report the following average Band D Council Tax charges in Scotland:

• 2025‑26: £1,543
• 2026‑27: £1,653

England

UK Government Live tables on Council Tax include average Council Tax per dwelling and average Band D charges for English local authorities - https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/livetables-on-council-tax

The UK Government live tables show the following average Council Tax bill in England:

• 2025‑26: £1,770
• 2026‑27: £1,868

The same source reports the following average Band D Council Tax charges for England:

• 2025‑26: £2,280
• 2026‑27: £2,392

These England Band D figures include parish precepts, which should be borne in mind when making comparisons.

Wales

Welsh Government Council Tax data provides information on both average Council Tax billed per dwelling and average Band D charges for Wales - https://www.gov.wales/council-tax-levels

The published Welsh Government data show the following average Council Tax billed per dwelling in Wales:

• 2025‑26: £1,970
• 2026‑27: £2,075

The same data report the following average Band D Council Tax charges in Wales:

• 2025‑26: £2,170
• 2026‑27: £2,283

Council tax in Wales operates under a different banding structure (Bands A–I) and is based on 2003 property valuations. These factors should be taken into account when making cross‑UK comparisons.

Northern Ireland

As Northern Ireland operates a different domestic taxation system, there is no directly equivalent Council Tax figure for Northern Ireland. As a result, published comparisons in official statistics generally focus on Scotland, England and Wales.

The statement made by the First Minister reflects the position set out in published official statistics that, when measured using average Council Tax billed per dwelling, Council Tax in Scotland is lower on average than in England and Wales. Published figures on average Band D charges indicate the same and provide additional contextual support for cross‑UK comparison. For your information, the Scottish Government has published the following article in relation to Council Tax comparisons across nations, Council Tax Rates: Comparing Scotland to other UK nations - gov.scot.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI 202600512895 - Information released - Annex

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