Figures seen by The Herald show that the level of council tax debt reached £115.924 million on March 31, 2022.

In 2018-19, council tax debt sat at £71.035m – which had been a rise of just over 12% on the previous year.

The news comes amid concerns that the cost of living and the expectation that council tax will rise as local authorities deal with a £450m decrease in budgets, will increase council tax debt.

A recent publication from The Robertson Trust has revealed that over one in ten of the poorest households in Scotland are already in council tax arrears, while housing regulators have warned that rent arrears are set to peak in 2022-23, having reached £169.6m at the end of March 2022.

Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) has revealed that September 2021 and September 2022, 3,717 CAB clients owed a cumulative £12.7 million to local authorities for unpaid council tax bills.

The average debt for a CAB client is £3,420 – almost three times the average council tax bill in 2022/23 of £1,238.

The charity is warning that the cost of living crisis could lead to people prioritising costs like food, housing and energy and falling even further behind on council tax bills.

Previous research from Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) found a large increase in complex debt clients – those with multiple debts – who would take longer to pay off their debts, with one in two clients having no money to pay down their debts after covering essential outgoings.

CAS financial health spokesperson, Myles Fitt, said: “Council tax debt is the biggest debt issue the Citizens Advice network deals with and these figures suggest the cost of living crisis could see an explosion in the levels of arrears across the country as people prioritise expenditure for immediate cost of living needs.

“CAB clients owe over £12.7 million in arrears with the average debt being almost three times as much as the average bill. That is the scale of the debt some people are facing while the cost of living continues to soar – it is no wonder people find themselves taking longer and longer to pay off their debt.

“One option people could use is check to see if they are entitled to any savings or exemptions through the Council Tax Reduction scheme. People can go to www.checkmycounciltax.scot and see what they are entitled to.

“People feeling worried about their finances can always turn to the Citizens Advice network for help. Our advice is free, confidential and impartial and can deliver real results. We never charge people for advice and are for everyone, regardless of whether you are working or not.”