WIREDGOV

Council Tax freeze, teacher numbers and bedroom tax mitigation confirmed.

Scottish local authorities will receive their share of an additional £107 million General Revenue Grant over and above the sums approved by Parliament on 5 February to deliver valuable initiatives such as continuing the Council Tax freeze and Discretionary Housing Payments.

Yesterday’s Amendment Order will see local authorities receive their agreed share of:

• £70 million to fund the continuation of the council tax freeze
• over £26 million which represents the initial 80 per cent allocation of the Discretionary Housing Payments funding for next year, mitigating the negative impact of the UK Government’s Bedroom Tax
• an additional £11 million added to General Revenue Grant with a corresponding reduction in the distributable Non Domestic Rate Income (NDRI) of £11 million, to match the poundage cap for business rates in England
• an addition of £6.5 million to support local government’s contribution to the early implementation of the Developing the Young Workforce - Scotland’s Youth Employment Strategy

The Local Government Finance (Scotland) Order 2015 was agreed in Holyrood on 5 February, 2015, enabling Scotland’s local authorities to set their revenue budgets for 2015 16.

In setting their budgets for next year, local authorities were asked that in return for this increased level of funding they should:

• Freeze their council tax levels for an eighth consecutive year, paid for by £70 million extra funding from the Scottish Government
• Maintain teacher numbers at 2014-15 levels, the teacher pupil ratio for schools again at 2014-15 levels while securing places for all probationer teachers who require one. If agreed, a move that would be supported by an additional £10 million, as advised by Cosla

Local government revenue funding and capital is being maintained over the 4 years 2012-16 on a like with like basis and will be increased, with additional funding for new responsibilities, in 2014-15 to almost £10.8 billion and to over £10.85 billion in 2015-16.

The Deputy First Minister said:

“Scottish local authorities continue to get a good deal from the Scottish Government, despite the impact of the UK Government's cuts to the Scotland’s budget.

“The Scottish Government has treated local government fairly in providing a degree of protection in very difficult economic circumstances, and with this Amendment Order approved by Parliament today, this will confirm total funding for this year of £10.8 billion with the extra money for new responsibilities the total funding for next year will increase to over £10.85 billion.

“In return for this degree of protection I believe it is only fair and reasonable to ask local government to give specific commitments in return.

“I am delighted to say that all 32 councils have budgeted to fulfil all of these commitments in 2015-16, both the continuation of the council tax freeze and the educational commitments at 2014-15 levels.

“This is the eighth successive year that we have worked with our local government partners to maintain council tax at 2007-08 levels, which is good news for communities and households who will benefit from the savings this brings in a challenging economic climate. Savings that amount to around £1,200 for the average Band D household.

“We been clear that the quality and capacity of our teaching workforce is key to giving our most disadvantaged children greater opportunities to excel in school and to get the best start in life – supported by initiatives such as our recently-announced £100 million Attainment Scotland Fund. Our discussions with local authorities have been positive and productive and I’m delighted that we have now secured agreements right across Scotland to provide the right number and highest quality of teachers in our schools.”

“This partnership approach with local government is delivering real benefits for the people of Scotland in the face of the biggest reduction in public spending imposed by Westminster on any Scottish Government.”