Council Tax Reduction Caseload and expenditure, Scotland, October to December 2014

Council Tax Reduction: Caseload and Expenditure, Scotland October - December 2014

Key points

• There were 527,460 Council Tax Reduction recipients in Scotland in December 2014.
• Total weekly expenditure on Council Tax Reduction in December 2014 was £6.7 million.
• The Council Tax Reduction caseload in Scotland gradually decreased by 4.5 per cent (24,900) between the beginning of Scotland's CTR scheme in April 2013, and December 2014.

Council Tax Reduction caseload in Scotland: April 2013 to December 2014

Figure 1: Treemap of Council Tax Reduction caseload by Local Authority: December 2014

See Table 1 for figures used to produce this.

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

Figure 1 shows Council Tax Reduction caseload for December 2014 in a treemap, which allows a visual comparison of the magnitude of the caseload for each local authority. The five local authorities with the highest CTR caseload accounted for almost half (46 per cent) of the total caseload for Scotland. Glasgow City accounted for the highest proportion of Scotland's CTR caseload, at 19 per cent (97,630). North Lanarkshire accounted for 8 per cent (40,410) of the total CTR caseload, Edinburgh City 7 per cent (38,860), and Fife and South Lanarkshire each accounted for 6 per cent of total CTR caseload (33,620 and 33,590 respectively).

The caseload figures for each local authority in October, November and December 2014 are shown in Table 1 below. There have been small decreases in caseload each month, from 531,690 in October to 529,130 in November and 527,460 in December.

Table 1: Council Tax Reduction recipients by Local Authority: October 2014 to December 2014 ^1,2,3

Notes:

1. Recipients are as at monthly count date. See Methodology notes section 2 for more details: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Local-Government-Finance/Methodology/Ctaxreductionmethod

2. CTR reduces the council tax liability on chargeable dwellings, where the inhabitants apply for CTR and meet the criteria. The CTR caseload statistics count a "recipient" as the number of dwellings that benefited from a Council Tax Reduction. This means that a recipient can be a single person or a couple, with or without children.

3. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. Components may not sum to total due to rounding.

Table 2: Council Tax Reduction weekly expenditure estimate (£000's) by Local Authority: October 2014 to December 2014 ^1,2,3

Notes:

1. Recipients are as at monthly count date. See Methodology notes section 2 for more details: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Local-Government-Finance/Methodology/Ctaxreductionmethod

2. Figures are rounded to the nearest £100. Components may not sum to total due to rounding.

3. Weekly expenditure estimate was based on 'caseload multiplied by average weekly award' for each local authority and benefit type for the given month.