Council Tax Reduction in Scotland: 2023-2024

Glossary and things you need to know about this release

Covid-19 Pandemic - A global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). This resulted in restrictions being implemented across the country with multiple policy interventions to deal with the health, economic and other impacts of Covid-19. The first national lockdown began on 24 March 2020.

Passporting Benefits – Receiving one of the following benefits for those on lower income has the practical effect of automatically qualifying the recipient for full CTR:

• Jobseeker’s Allowance (Income Based) – paid to those who are unemployed and are on a low income.
• Employment and Support Allowance (Income Related) – paid to those on a low income whose ability to work is limited by an illness or disability.
• Income Support – paid to those on a low income and under state pension age, who are not sick or available for work.
• Pension Credit (Guarantee Credit) – paid to those on a low income who are over the qualifying age for state pension.

Note: Universal Credit (UC) replaces the above benefits that currently passport recipients to full CTR, with the exception of Pension Credit. UC also replaces Working Tax Credits and Child Tax Credits and Housing Benefit. We do not currently have figures on how many CTR applicants are receiving UC, however they are likely to be represented in the non passporting caseload figures as UC is not a passporting benefit.

Applicable Amount – Every household has a maximum amount of weekly income they can receive, before their income starts to affect their CTR. This figure is called the applicable amount. The applicable amount varies depending on the age, size of family, and any special needs they may have (for example if anyone is disabled). 

The applicable amount has three main parts, these are: 

• a personal allowance - either single/couple and dependant on age 
• child allowance – an amount for each dependant child 
• a premium - an extra amount that is awarded depending on circumstances. 

The applicable amount is the amount the Government says you need to live on each week. It is either personal allowances only, or a combination of personal allowances and premiums.

Premiums - Eligibility for premiums is based on personal circumstances. For example, those who receive Carers Allowance for caring for a disabled person will receive a carer premium. There are also premiums for disabled people. Different rates apply depending on household make-up. For example a disabled single person would have been awarded  £39.85 (2023/2024 rates) whilst a couple (where either one or both is disabled) would have been awarded  £56.80. Some examples of personal allowances and premiums for 2023-24, alongside the 2022-23 figures are given in Figure 2.

Income - Regulations state what counts as income in the calculation of CTR, with some income types being partially disregarded. Income includes earnings, income from capital, other income paid on a regular basis, and social security benefits.

Figure 2: Value of certain CTR personal allowances and premiums (per week), 2022-23 and 2023-24

Income Assessment – This is a calculation which is taken to determine the amount of  CTR, once the eligibility criteria is satisfied. The income assessment compares the household’s income and their applicable amount. 

• If total income is less than the applicable amount then full CTR will be awarded. 
• If total income is greater than applicable amount then the household is expected to contribute 20 per cent of their excess income to their Council Tax liability. This results in a tapering effect, where CTR awards decrease as income increases. 

Excess Income – This is the amount left after deducting the household’s applicable amount from their total income.

Full CTR – The amount of CTR awarded is equal to the full amount of Council Tax liability for the applicant (less any appropriate non-dependent disregards). For example, if an applicant lived in a Council Tax (Band C) house in Edinburgh, and their weekly Council Tax liability was £24.68 in 2023-24, their award would equal their Council Tax liability (£24.68) and they would pay no Council Tax if they receive full CTR.

Partial CTR – The household contributes 20 per cent of their excess income towards their Council Tax liability and the remainder of the liability is the CTR award. 

Please note, throughout the publication:

• CTR recipients are as at monthly count date. See Methodology Notes, Section 2 for more details available at the Council Tax Reduction website.
• Number of CTR recipients’ figures are rounded to the nearest 10. Components may not sum to total due to rounding.
• Weekly income forgone estimates are based on 'number of recipients multiplied by average weekly reduction' for each local authority and benefit type for the given month. 
• Weekly income forgone figures are rounded to the nearest £100. Components may not sum to total due to rounding. Percentage change are based on unrounded figures.
• Average awards are shown as pounds per week and rounded to the nearest penny.
• Where proportions are used, components may not sum due to rounding. 
• Local authority figures (CTR recipients and weekly income forgone) for each month from April 2013 to the most recent are available in the Recipients and Income Forgone tables.