First Minister announces council tax freeze
As part of his SNP conference speech, the First Minister announced a council tax freeze, domestic abuse support and more.
Just a couple of hours after our own packed fringe event had ended, the First Minister took to the stage for his keynote speech at the end of SNP Conference. The speech focused on the ongoing situation in Israel-Palestine as he called on the international community to commit to a refugee programme for people in Gaza and the UK Government to support the medical evacuation of injured civilians. However, there was also a lot of new Scottish Government policy announced.
The major announcement was the decision to freeze rates of council tax for the 2024-25 budget year. Local authorities were not consulted on the plan before the announcement, which they say comes at a time when council budgets are already being squeezed and statutory services are under huge pressure. Yesterday, the First Minister confirmed that the freeze would be fully funded by Scottish Government although full funding decisions will be made as part of the December budget. We know that cuts to local services have an enormous impact on tenants and housing associations, and we are lobbying Scottish Government for a shift towards a fairer tax system in the round. Part of this is the introduction of a form of Land Value Capture.
A new £500,000 pilot - ‘Fund to Leave’ - was also announced to support women who need to leave their homes because of domestic abuse. Women will be entitled to up to £1000 to help pay for essentials such as rent and clothing when leaving an abusive relationship. The project will be piloted in Edinburgh, Fife, Glasgow, North Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire. Domestic abuse is the number one cause of homelessness for women in Scotland and this funding could be transformational for survivors. The fund will be distributed by Women’s Aid and grants available as part of the pilot until 31st March 2024. You can read guidance for social landlords on domestic abuse that Scottish Women’s Aid and CIH Scotland published in 2020 and that SFHA contributed to.
There was also an announcement that the Scottish Government will issue its own government bonds for the first time. The First Minister outlined that these would be used to “fund vital infrastructure like affordable housing projects”. A bond is essentially an IOU which allows governments to borrow money from investors and the Scottish Government have had the ability to do this since 2015. The plan is at the very early stages of development, but the hope is that the first bonds will be issued by 2026. This could be a way for Scottish Government to increase funding for our social homes so we will follow developments closely.
Other policies announced include an extra £100m per year for the next three years for NHS waiting lists, a £500m investment in a new offshore wind supply chain, £400,000 for the rejuvenation of Union Street in Aberdeen, and that investment in arts and culture will be doubled over the next five years. The financing of the First Minister’s plans will be outlined fully in the December budget which we will be looking to influence in the run up to it being published.