Council Tax Reduction: Caseload and Expenditure, Scotland, 2013-14

Key points

This publication provides statistics on the Council Tax Reduction scheme, which reduces the Council Tax liability of vulnerable people in Scotland. The statistics are based on data extracts and statistical returns from local authorities, and cover the time period from April 2013 to March 2014. They are available for each month and the most recent statistics are for March 2014.

• There were 543,240 Council Tax Reduction recipients in Scotland in March 2014, with an average weekly award of £12.79, giving a total weekly expenditure estimate of £6.945 million.
• Provisional total expenditure on Council Tax Reduction in Scotland in 2013-14 was £360.1 million.
• The number of recipients and average weekly expenditure have both decreased between April 2013 and March 2014, by 1.7 per cent and 2.1 per cent respectively.
• 208,330 (38 per cent) Council Tax Reduction recipients in March 2014 were aged 65 or over.
• 89,820 (17 per cent) Council Tax Reduction recipients in March 2014 were single with child dependants ('lone parents').
• The number of Council Tax Reduction recipients in March 2014 was equivalent to 22.5 per cent of the total number of chargeable dwellings.