Humza Yousaf, Scotland's First Minister, has announced that council tax rates will be frozen in the next financial year to support people struggling with the effects of high inflation.
First Minister Humza Yousaf said that the:
“Announcement will bring much needed financial relief to those households who are struggling in the face of rising prices. Council tax is already lower in Scotland than elsewhere in the UK, and some 2.5 million households will now benefit from this freeze.
Of course, the public sector across the UK is facing budget pressures as a result of UK Government austerity, and we know councils are facing financial challenges themselves. That’s why the Scottish Government will be fully funding this freeze to ensure they can continue providing the services on which we all rely. This is on top of the real-terms increase to local government revenue funding this financial year.
The Scottish Government remains wholly committed to the Verity House Agreement, and as part of that are continuing work with COSLA on a new fiscal framework for local authorities. We are also working on longer term reforms to the council tax system, which are being considered by the working group on local government funding that we are chairing jointly with COSLA.”
The council tax freeze will be fully funded by the Scottish government and will mean that council tax rates in Scotland will remain the same in the 2024-25 council tax year. This means that households will not see any increase in council tax rates until April 2025 at the earliest.