Council Tax Reduction in Scotland, April to June 2015

Council Tax Reduction in Scotland, April to June 2015

This publication provides statistics on the Council Tax Reduction (CTR) 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 to June 2015.

Key points

• There were 515,260 Council Tax Reduction recipients in Scotland in June 2015.
• The total weekly income foregone by local authorities on Council Tax Reduction in June 2015 was £6.5 million.
• The total number of recipients receiving Council Tax Reduction in Scotland gradually decreased by 6.7 per cent (37,120 recipients) between the beginning of Scotland's CTR scheme in April 2013, and June 2015.

Chart 1: Council Tax Reduction recipients in Scotland: April 2013 - June 2015

A Council Tax Reduction 'recipient' can be a single person or a couple, with or without children, since Council Tax is charged on a per-dwelling basis, rather than to individuals.

The number of recipients for each local authority in April, May and June 2015 are shown in Table 1. There have been small decreases in the total number of recipients in Scotland each month, from 520,050 in April, to 518,440 in May, and 515,260 in June.

Table 1: CTR recipients by Local Authority: April to June 2015 ^{1, 2}

Notes:

¹ Recipients are as at monthly count date. See Methodology Notes, Section 2 for more details. Available at
http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Local-Government-Finance/Methodology/Ctaxreductionmethod

² Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. Components may not sum to total due to rounding.

Figure 1 shows CTR recipients by local authority for June 2015 in a treemap, using the data from Table 1. This allows a visual comparison of the number of recipients in each local authority. The five local authorities with the highest numbers of CTR recipients accounted for almost half (46 per cent) of the total for Scotland in June 2015. Glasgow City accounted for the highest proportion of Scotland's CTR recipients, at 19 per cent (95,380). North Lanarkshire accounted for 8 per cent (39,130) of the total CTR recipients, Edinburgh City 7 per cent (37,530) and Fife and South Lanarkshire each accounted for 6 per cent of total CTR recipients (33,060 and 32,960 respectively).

Figure 1: Treemap of CTR recipients by Local Authority: June 2015

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

Table 2: CTR weekly estimate of income foregone (£000's) by Local Authority: April to June 2015 ^{1, 2, 3}

Notes:

¹ Recipients are as at monthly count date. See Methodology Notes, Section 2 for more details. Available at
http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Local-Government-Finance/Methodology/Ctaxreductionmethod
² Weekly income foregone estimates are based on 'number of recipients multiplied by average weekly reduction' for each local authority and benefit type for the given month.
³ Figures are rounded to the nearest £100. Components may not sum to total due to rounding.