Council Tax Reduction in Scotland 2019-2020

6. Background Notes

6.1 Data sources and validation

The main data source for this report is the Scottish Government CTR data extract (some other data sources have been used to provide contextual data, such as the number of chargeable dwellings. Where this is the case the relevant source has been provided.) Since the CTR scheme was introduced on 1 April 2013, the Scottish Government have asked all local authorities to provide individual record level extracts on a monthly basis to enable monitoring of the number of recipients and weekly income forgone estimates. Local authorities' continued cooperation in providing this data is gratefully acknowledged.

Local authorities are asked to extract their data on a specified date (the count date) although local authorities can provide data up to a week after that date. This means the extract provides a snapshot for each month, and so may include CTR applications that are subsequently revised by local authorities. The CTR extract count dates for April 2019 to March 2020 were:

There are two types of records contained within the CTR data extract which might feed into the statistics:

1. 'D' records: those that were 'live' on the count date; and

2. 'C' records: those that have been closed since the previous count date. They are used to identify short term claims (i.e. those that were live on the count date for a specific month but not on the count date for the months on either side) and 'D' records that haven't actually closed before the count date.

These records do not contain information on total weekly award amount and so, to enable total weekly figures to be estimated, it is assumed that the weekly award was the same as the average weekly award for each local authority and benefit type for the given month (based on the 'D' records).

As part of the quality assurance procedure, the Scottish Government carries out validation checks on incoming data to identify possible errors. Potential problems are identified in a number of ways, including comparing the data received to other known sources; data from previous months and years; and data from other local authorities. Where appropriate, views are also sought from policy colleagues – for example, where a change in the data may be attributable to a policy change. To ensure the data are of a high quality, the Scottish Government then works with the relevant local authorities to resolve any data issues identified. Nevertheless, administrative data is not always complete and where this occurs the report and supplementary tables details the number and nature of missing data. This is particularly true of this publication where we seek to report on the characteristics of the recipients and the amounts they receive.

A full methodology guide is available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/council-tax-reduction/

For information on total CTR income forgone for the year (as in Table 4 of this publication), CTRR and LFRs have been used. These are aggregate returns which collect data from local authorities on the total amounts of Council Tax billed, including the amounts of CTR applied. CTRR and LFRs give better overall estimates of total reductions in liabilities than the monthly extracts as they represent the billing and award position for the year as a whole.

6.2 Supplementary tables

This report seeks to highlight the key messages on CTR statistics. Detailed tables are published as supplementary tables alongside this publication. The following list of tables will be available at http://www.gov.scot/ISBN/9781839608216.

1. Number of CTR recipients

1.1: CTR recipients, April 2013 to March 2020
1.2: CTR recipients by local authority, April 2019 to March 2020
1.3: CTR recipients by local authority as a proportion of the Scottish CTR Population, March 2020
1.4: CTR recipients by local authority and passported status, March 2020
1.5: CTR recipients by passported status, April 2019 to March 2020
1.6: CTR recipients by age, family type and gender, March 2020
1.7: CTR recipients by age and family type, March 2020
1.8: CTR recipients by deprivation, March 2020
1.9: CTR recipients by full or partial award, March 2020

2. Weekly income forgone estimates

2.1: Percentage changes since previous month for CTR recipients and weekly income forgone, April 2013 to March 2020
2.2: Weekly income forgone estimates (£'000s) by local authority, April 2019 to March 2020
2.3: Average weekly award by local authority and passported status, March 2020
2.4: Average weekly award by age group and family type, March 2020

3. Chargeable dwellings and Council Tax Bands

3.1: CTR recipients by local authority and Council Tax Band, March 2020
3.2: Proportion of chargeable dwellings in receipt of CTR by Council Tax Band, March 2020

4. CTR impact on Council Tax income

4.1: Total reduction in Council Tax income (£ millions) through CTR by local authority, 2013-14 to 2019-20
4.2: Percentage of chargeable dwellings in receipt of CTR by local authority, March 2020

6.3 Revisions and further information

Any revisions and corrections to this publication, and previous editions of it, will be carried out in line with the Scottish Government's corrections and revisions policy. This can be viewed at: https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/About/compliance

Further information on CTR Statistics, including the supplementary tables, previous publications and local authority charts and tables, is available from https://www.gov.scot/collections/local-government-finance-statistics/#counciltaxreduction

Further information on Local Government Finance statistics is available at:
http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Local-Government-Finance.