Local government funding 2020-2021: process overview

Overview of the process to determine the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2020 to 2021. The figures used are set out in Finance Circular 2/2020, which was agreed by Parliament prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and so do not take account of additional COVID-19 funding.

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How did we calculate how much Scottish Government grant each council should receive?

For 2020-21, councils received £12.7 billion of general funding. So, considering just this general funding:

1. We calculated each council’s fair share of the £12.7 billion of available funding.

2. Then we subtracted how much income we estimate each will receive from Council Tax and Non-domestic Rates.

3. Then the remainder was given as grant, called General Revenue Grant.

So if a council’s fair share was £400 million, and they would receive £70 million from Council Tax and £90 million from Non-domestic Rates, then we gave £240 million as General Revenue Grant. (400 - 70 - 90 = 240)

Diagram illustrating that Total Allocation equals Grant plus Non-domestic Rates plus Council Tax

Contact

Email: gaestatistics@gov.scot

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