Scottish budget could lead to service cuts, councils warn

Some local services may have to be scrapped due to funding shortages, council leaders have warned following the Scottish government's budget.

Local authority chiefs have unanimously backed a motion arguing the budget will be detrimental to services.

It follows Deputy First Minister John Swinney announcing that councils will benefit from a funding increase of £550m.

The Scottish government says its budget will ensure councils are "protected".

In his budget announcement, Mr Swinney said that local authorities would receive more than £550m extra - instead of a flat cash settlement.

At a meeting of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla), the leaders said that most of that sum was for existing commitments - claiming the settlement meant another massive real-terms cut in funding, leaving them "extremely disappointed".

They urged ministers to prioritise local government funding and pause plans for a National Care Service, which is expected to cost between £664m and £1.2bn over five years.

Council chiefs said funding should instead be reallocated to social care and prevention measures within local government.

Katie Hagmann, Cosla's resources spokeswoman, said: "Council services will now be at absolute breaking point and some may have to stop altogether.

"This is a result of cuts to our councils' core budgets and direction on spend towards other Scottish government priorities over the last few years.

"Yesterday's budget announcement compounds this and there is a real risk that many of our essential services will not only be cut, but may have to stop altogether."

Analysis published by Cosla suggests the cash increase could be just £71m once Scottish government-mandated policies are paid for, while it claims capital funding will remain flat for next year.

The Fraser of Allander Institute said the funding was equal to a 4.9% real-terms decrease based on spending last year, while the Institute for Fiscal Studies accused the government of overstating the spending increases by comparing spending next year to last year's budget and not taking into account in-year rises.

But the Scottish government rejected the claims by Cosla.

A spokeswoman said: "We have protected councils in the most challenging budget since devolution to provide more than £13.2bn in the 2023-24 local government settlement.

"This represents a cash increase of over £550m, or 4.5%, which is a real-terms increase of £160.6m, or 1.3%."

As part of the budget announcement, local authorities were also given full flexibility to set their own council tax rates.

Mr Swinney said councils should "consider carefully the cost pressures facing the public" when deciding the rate they will charge people.

Scottish Conservative local government spokesman Miles Briggs said: "Services that residents rely on could be lost forever under John Swinney's current budget proposals. He should stop with the shameless spin and instead step up and ensure our councils have the funding they need.

"While tough decisions have to be made, our councils should not always have to bear the brunt of SNP-Green cuts. Many of them simply have no more room to manoeuvre when it comes to managing their finances, while still delivering local services."