Council Tax Reduction for around half a million Scots

The Scottish Government’s Council Tax Reduction scheme is giving support to almost 500,000 low income households across the country, new figures have found.

The latest Council Tax Reduction estimates revealed that the scheme supported 498,750 households in June 2016 and the total weekly income foregone by local authorities was £6.3 million.

The statistics show a gradual decrease in the number of people in receipt of Council Tax Reduction since the scheme was introduced in Scotland in April 2013. The number of recipients decreased by 9.7 per cent between April 2013 and June 2016.

Finance secretary Derek Mackay said: “These figures show that our national Council Tax Reduction scheme is giving support to almost 500,000 low income households across Scotland.

“The decline in number of people receiving Council Tax Reduction is mainly due to improvements in the labour market and increases in pensioner incomes.

“We recognise improvements should be made to the existing system, and that is why earlier this year, the First Minister announced changes to make the current Council Tax system fairer. As part of these changes we will also make bills more affordable for many more households.

“To support those on low incomes and provide additional support to families, we will increase the child allowance within the Council Tax Reduction scheme by 25 per cent - benefitting up to 77,000 households by an average of £173 per year - around £15 per month. This boost for low income families will help up to 140,000 children across Scotland. In addition, we will extend the Council Tax Reduction scheme to exempt low income households who live in higher property bands from the changes to the system and will therefore help up to 54,000 households.”