Local government revenue expenditure and financing 2018-2019: provisional outturn and budget estimates
Net revenue expenditure figures for all the main services carried out by Scotland's local authorities.
2019-20 Budget Estimates
All local authorities were also asked to provide their budget estimates for net revenue expenditure in 2019-20. Across all local authorities, they have set a net revenue expenditure budget of £12.635 billion for spending on all services. This is an increase of £0.497 billion (+4.1%) compared with the budget set for 2018-19.
Education and Social Work are budgeted to continue to account for around seven-tenths (71%) of net revenue expenditure in 2019-20:
- The Education budget has been set at £5.557 billion which equates to 44 per cent of total net revenue expenditure. This is an increase of £0.398 billion (+7.7 %) from the budget set in 2018-19.
- The Social Work budget has been set at £3.414 billion which equates to 27 per cent of total net revenue expenditure. This is an increase of £0.154 billion (+4.7%) from the budget set in 2018-19.
Around one-fifth (20%) of net revenue expenditure is budgeted to be distributed across all other services and less than one-tenth (9%) has been budgeted for non-service expenditure. Table 3 shows the full breakdown of budgeted net revenue expenditure by service.
Table 3: Budgeted Net Revenue Expenditure 2019-20 by Service, £ billions
| Service | BudgetEstimate | % of total net revenue expenditure | Change from 2018-19 | % change from 2018-19 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Education | 5.557 | 44% | 0.398 | 7.7% |
| Social Work | 3.414 | 27% | 0.154 | 4.7% |
| Environmental Services | 0.699 | 6% | 0.020 | 2.9% |
| Culture & Related Services | 0.554 | 4% | 0.016 | 3.0% |
| Roads & Transport | 0.377 | 3% | -0.012 | -3.1% |
| Planning & Development | 0.221 | 2% | -0.020 | -8.3% |
| All other service expenditure[4] | 0.698 | 6% | -0.018 | -2.6% |
| Non-service expenditure[5] | 1.114 | 9% | -0.041 | -3.5% |
| Total Revenue Expenditure | 12.635 | 100% | 0.497 | 4.1% |
Figure 2 shows the change in budget estimates between 2018-19 and 2019-20 by service.
Figure 2: Budgeted Net Revenue Expenditure 2018-19 vs. 2019-20 by Service
As shown in Table 4, local authorities have budgeted for almost three-fifths of net revenue expenditure (57%) to be funded by Scottish Government Grants in 2019-20. The remaining net revenue expenditure is largely budgeted to be financed by NDR and Council Tax income (42%), with 1% to be financed by local authority reserves.
Table 4: Budgeted financing of net revenue expenditure in 2019-20, £ billions
| Source of financing | Amount of financing budgeted | % of total net revenue expenditure funded |
|---|---|---|
| Scottish Government Grants | 7.205 | 57% |
| Non-Domestic Rates | 2.853 | 23% |
| Council Tax | 2.463 | 19% |
| Reserves | 0.114 | 1% |
| Total Revenue Financing | 12.635 | 100% |
At 1 April 2019, local authorities estimate General Fund reserves of £1.026 billion. Local authorities plan to use £0.114 billion to provide services in 2019-20 and transfer £0.043 billion from other reserves, which would give a closing General Fund balance of £0.955 billion at 31 March 2020. Of the 32 local authorities, 22 plan to use their reserves to fund expenditure in 2019-20; five plan to increase their reserves and the remaining five plan to neither use nor increase their reserves.
Contact
Email: lgfstats@gov.scot
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