Funding of local government 2021 to 2022: process overview
Overview of the process to determine the local government finance settlement for 2021 to 2022. The figures used are set out in Finance Circular 5/2021, as agreed by Parliament. The publication relates to general funding, and excludes any additional COVID-19 funding provided over the last year.
Introduction
There are 32 Local Authority councils in Scotland. Each council is responsible for a range of services, such as schools, housing, social work, street lighting, road maintenance, refuse collection, elections, and planning.
Councils in Scotland spent about £18 billion in 2018-19. This was mainly funded from four sources: Scottish Government grant, service income, Non-domestic Rates, and Council Tax.
The Scottish Government seeks to distribute its funding fairly between councils. It does this by agreeing the method of distribution with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) and councils. This publication describes the calculations used for 2021-22.
During 2020 and 2021 large amounts of additional funding were made available to councils due to the Covid-19 pandemic - over £1.25 billion so far. These funds are not included in this publication.
The forecast income from Non-domestic Rates was also lower due to the pandemic.
Contact
Email: gaestatistics@gov.scot
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