Scottish Local Government Finance Statistics 2021-22
Annual publication providing a comprehensive overview of financial activity of Scottish local authorities in 2021-22 based on authorities' audited accounts (where available).
This document is part of a collection
Key Facts
How much did local authorities spend on services in 2021-22?
- Revenue expenditure is the cost of delivering services each year.
- Gross service expenditure is total expenditure on services in year minus internal transfers.
- Gross service income is total income authorities receive from services, such as service specific grants or income generated through fees, etc.
- Net revenue expenditure is gross service expenditure minus gross service income. It reflects the amount of service expenditure to be funded by general funding or reserves.

Gross Service Expenditure | £21,626 million |
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Gross Service Income | £9,846 million |
Net Revenue Expenditure | £11,780 million |
How did local authorities fund services in 2021-22?
- General funding is largely made up of the General Revenue Grant (GRG), Non-Domestic Rates (NDR) and Council Tax.
- Local authorities use general funding to meet their net revenue expenditure on services and any other revenue expenditure that is not directly related to services, such as repayment of debt.
- In 2021-22, local authorities’ expenditure was less than their general funding. This surplus was added to local authorities’ reserves.

General Funding | £13,788 million |
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Net Revenue Expenditure | £11,780 million |
Non-Service Expenditure | £1,714 million |
Surplus added to Reserves | £294 million |
What was the value of capital investment in 2021-22?
- Capital expenditure is expenditure that creates the buildings and infrastructure necessary to provide services, such as schools, flood defence, roads and vehicles.
- Capital expenditure also includes capital grants or loans to third parties funded from borrowing.

Please note that "Other" includes Social Work, Central Services and Trading Services.
Total Capital Expenditure = £3,341 million*
How did local authorities finance the £3,341 million of capital expenditure incurred in 2021-22?
- Local authorities can finance capital expenditure in a number of ways. The main sources of financing in 2021-22 were:
- Grants & contributions, including those from the Scottish Government;
Borrowing; and - Use of revenue reserves.
- Grants & contributions, including those from the Scottish Government;

What reserves did local authorities have at 31 March 2022?
- Usable reserves are local authorities’ surplus income from previous years. This can be used to finance future revenue or capital expenditure.
- The General Fund is the main usable revenue reserve, although there are other reserves that local authorities may be able to use.
- There are also two usable capital reserves.

"Other" revenue reserves includes the Insurance Fund.
Usable Reserves at 31 March 2022 = £4,266 million
What debt did local authorities have at 31 March 2022?
- When a local authority borrows money or uses a credit arrangement to finance capital expenditure, a debt is created.
- Local authorities have to repay this debt from future revenues.
- In 2021-22, local authorities repaid £553 million of debt.

Total Debt at 31 March 2022 = £20,549 million
Contact
Email: lgfstats@gov.scot
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