Created on: 25 Jan 2018 | Last modified: 15 Jul 2022
1.1 The following resolution was approved at Council at its meeting on Friday 21 November 2014 and subsequently remitted to the Executive Committee for
"That this Council resolve to investigate and report on the impact of the Council Tax Freeze on spending on education and other local authority services."
1.2 Initial contact was made with the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) seeking some broad guidance on the subject matter of the council resolution and some pointers as to where additional information could be A copy of CIPFA's submission to the Commission on Strengthening Local Democracy is attached as Appendix A and specific reference is made to paragraph 1.3 of the Submission which provides some initial information about the effects of the Council Tax Freeze.
1.3 CIPFA describes the effects of the Council Tax Freeze in the following terms:
a) Government grant has been conditional on a prescribed level of local taxation since 2007-08 which CIPFA believes has distorted the relationship between local government, the citizen and central government.
b) Local government services cost around £19.5bn per annum and there exists an estimated accounting deficit of more than £900m, i.e. £175 per person in Scotland.
c) Central (Scottish) Government has offered financial support to Local Authorities of around £70m per year to freeze Council Tax at 2007-08 levels. The actual cost of the freeze at 2014-15 stands at around £490m per annum. The uptake of the freeze since 2007 has been 100% across all Local Authorities every year.