Council Tax Reduction in Scotland: April to June 2017

Report on number of recipients and amount of Council Tax forgone through Council Tax Reduction (CTR).

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Council Tax Reduction in Scotland, April to June 2017

This publication provides statistics on the Council Tax Reduction ( CTR) scheme, which reduces the Council Tax liability of low income households in Scotland. A CTR ‘recipient’ can be a single person or a couple, with or without children, since Council Tax is charged on a per-dwelling basis, rather than to individuals.

The statistics are based on data extracts from local authorities, and cover the time period April to June 2017.

Key Points

  • There were 491,180 Council Tax Reduction recipients in Scotland in June 2017.
  • The total weekly income foregone by local authorities on Council Tax Reduction in June 2017 was £6.5 million.
  • The total number of Council Tax Reduction recipients in Scotland was 11.1 per cent (61,200 recipients) lower in June 2017 than it was at the beginning of the scheme in April 2013. In general, this fall has been gradual, punctuated by small rises each January to March. Since April 2017, reforms to Council Tax and Council Tax Reduction have exerted an upward pressure on recipient numbers, interrupting the overall downward trend.

Chart 1: CTR recipients in Scotland, April 2013 to June 2017

Chart 1: CTR recipients in Scotland, April 2013 to June 2017

The number of recipients for each local authority in April, May and June 2017 is shown in Table 1. The total number in Scotland increased from 491,760 in March 2017 to 492,860 in May 2017, related to reforms to Council Tax and CTR which took effect from 1 April 2017:

  • Local authorities were permitted to raise their level of Council Tax by up to 3 per cent, following 9 years of Council Tax ‘freeze’.
  • The ‘proportions’ in Band E to H were increased, thereby increasing Council Tax bills for properties in these bands. A new relief was introduced through the CTR scheme, protecting certain below-median income households from the increase.
  • The CTR child premium was increased by 25 per cent.

Table 1: CTR Recipients by Local Authority, April to June 2017 1, 2

Apr-17 May-17 Jun-17
SCOTLAND 491,430 492,860 491,180
Aberdeen City 14,200 14,270 14,250
Aberdeenshire 11,920 12,260 12,300
Angus 8,760 8,820 8,850
Argyll and Bute 7,000 7,020 6,980
Clackmannanshire 5,320 5,350 5,260
Dumfries and Galloway 13,360 13,370 13,370
Dundee City 18,190 18,160 18,320
East Ayrshire 13,560 13,630 13,560
East Dunbartonshire 5,510 5,500 5,400
East Lothian 7,070 7,150 7,150
East Renfrewshire 4,610 4,630 4,620
Edinburgh, City of 35,600 35,740 35,720
Eilean Siar 2,410 2,400 2,360
Falkirk 13,530 13,650 13,490
Fife 31,640 31,560 31,480
Glasgow City 90,030 90,580 90,460
Highland 17,980 17,800 17,560
Inverclyde 9,730 9,790 9,790
Midlothian 6,700 6,670 6,610
Moray 5,880 5,910 5,870
North Ayrshire 17,290 17,290 17,320
North Lanarkshire 36,830 36,830 36,920
Orkney Islands 1,230 1,240 1,230
Perth and Kinross 9,090 9,060 8,960
Renfrewshire 18,440 18,550 18,470
Scottish Borders 8,680 8,680 8,590
Shetland Islands 1,050 1,060 1,060
South Ayrshire 11,390 11,370 11,360
South Lanarkshire 31,000 30,980 30,850
Stirling 5,730 5,760 5,730
West Dunbartonshire 12,640 12,660 12,250
West Lothian 15,080 15,130 15,090

Notes:
1 Recipients are as at monthly count date. See Methodology Notes, Section 2 for more details. Available at
http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Local-Government-Finance/Methodology/Ctaxreductionmethod
2 Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. Components may not sum to total due to rounding.

Figure 1 shows CTR recipients by local authority for June 2017 in a treemap, using the data from Table 1. This allows a visual comparison of the number of recipients in each local authority. The five local authorities with the highest numbers of CTR recipients accounted for almost half (45 per cent) of the total for Scotland in June 2017. Glasgow City accounted for the highest proportion of Scotland’s CTR recipients, with 18 per cent (90,460) of the total. The other four authorities with the highest proportion of CTR recipients were North Lanarkshire, accounting for 8 per cent (36,920 recipients); Edinburgh City, had 7 per cent (35,720 recipients); and Fife and South Lanarkshire, 6 per cent each (31,480 and 30,850 recipients respectively).

Figure 1: Treemap of CTR recipients by Local Authority, June 2017.

Figure 1: Treemap of CTR recipients by Local Authority, June 2017.

Key:
1 = Eilean Siar
2 = Orkney Islands
3 = Shetland Islands
Clacks = Clackmannanshire
East Dunb. = East Dunbartonshire
East Renf. = East Renfrewshire
West Dunb. = West Dunbartonshire

The total weekly income foregone for each local authority in April, May and June 2017 is shown in Table 2. The total for Scotland was £6.5 million in June 2017; an increase of almost £250,000 a week in income foregone since March 2017, reflecting the reforms listed in the first paragraph on page 2.

Table 2: CTR weekly estimate of income foregone (£000’s) by Local Authority, April to June 2017 1, 2, 3

Apr-17 May-17 Jun-17
SCOTLAND 6,509.2 6,525.6 6,497.1
Aberdeen City 190.7 191.5 190.8
Aberdeenshire 157.3 161.5 162.0
Angus 103.0 103.8 104.4
Argyll and Bute 104.1 104.1 103.4
Clackmannanshire 67.8 68.0 66.9
Dumfries and Galloway 166.5 166.0 165.9
Dundee City 236.0 235.2 236.8
East Ayrshire 175.1 175.5 174.8
East Dunbartonshire 86.6 86.8 85.1
East Lothian 96.9 97.6 97.3
East Renfrewshire 72.3 72.7 72.4
Edinburgh, City of 495.2 497.7 497.4
Eilean Siar 27.6 27.5 27.1
Falkirk 156.6 157.7 156.2
Fife 396.3 395.4 393.9
Glasgow City 1,307.2 1,314.0 1,311.0
Highland 243.5 241.3 237.5
Inverclyde 122.5 122.8 122.4
Midlothian 98.2 98.0 96.7
Moray 74.1 74.4 73.8
North Ayrshire 222.7 222.7 222.6
North Lanarkshire 438.1 438.0 438.8
Orkney Islands 14.6 14.8 14.7
Perth and Kinross 125.7 125.2 123.5
Renfrewshire 241.3 242.9 241.2
Scottish Borders 104.4 104.3 103.4
Shetland Islands 12.5 12.6 12.5
South Ayrshire 161.3 160.9 160.6
South Lanarkshire 378.3 379.0 376.8
Stirling 79.5 79.7 79.2
West Dunbartonshire 168.2 168.6 163.7
West Lothian 185.0 185.3 184.4

Notes:
1 Recipients are as at monthly count date. See Methodology Notes, Section 2 for more details. Available at
http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Local-Government-Finance/Methodology/Ctaxreductionmethod
2 Weekly income foregone estimates are based on ‘number of recipients multiplied by average weekly reduction’ for each local authority and benefit type for the given month.
3 Figures are rounded to the nearest £100. Components may not sum to total due to rounding.

Contact

Email: Robin Bennie, robin.bennie@gov.scot

Phone: 0300 244 4000 – Central Enquiry Unit

The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

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