Scottish Local Government Finance Statistics 2023-24

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Scottish Local Government Finance Statistics (SLGFS) 2023-24 - Key Facts

How much did local authorities spend on services in 2023-24?

Revenue expenditure is the cost of delivering services each year.

Gross service expenditure is total expenditure on services in year minus internal transfers.

Gross service income is total income authorities receive from services, such as service specific grants or income generated through fees, etc.

Net revenue expenditure is gross service expenditure minus gross service income. It reflects the amount of service expenditure to be funded by general funding or reserves.

How did local authorities fund services in 2023-24?

General funding is largely made up of the General Revenue Grant (GRG), Non-Domestic Rates (NDR) and Council Tax.

Local authorities use general funding to meet their net revenue expenditure on services and any other revenue expenditure that is not directly related to services, such as repayment of debt.

In 2023-24, local authorities’ expenditure was more than their general funding. This deficit was taken from local authorities’ reserves.

What was the value of capital investment in 2023-24?

Capital expenditure is expenditure that creates the buildings and infrastructure necessary to provide services, such as schools, flood defence, roads and vehicles.

Capital expenditure also includes capital grants or loans to third parties funded from borrowing.

How did local authorities finance the £3,689 million of capital expenditure incurred in 2023-24?

Local authorities can finance capital expenditure in a number of ways. The main sources of financing in 2023-24 were:

• Grants & contributions, including those from the Scottish Government;
• Borrowing;
• Revenue funding;
• Use of revenue reserves.

What reserves did local authorities have at 31 March 2024?

Usable reserves are local authorities’ surplus income from previous years. This can be used to finance future revenue or capital expenditure.

The General Fund is the main usable revenue reserve, although there are other reserves that local authorities may be able to use.

There are also two usable capital reserves.

What debt did local authorities have at 31 March 2024?

When a local authority borrows money or uses a credit arrangement to finance capital expenditure, a debt is created.

Local authorities have to repay this debt from future revenues.

In 2023-24, local authorities repaid minus £67 million of debt (i.e., received a credit), because of service concession arrangements.

More information available at www.gov.scot/collections/local-government-finance-statistics/