Council Tax Collection Statistics 2012-13

This statistics publication notice provides Council Tax (CT) collection figures by Scottish Local Authorities for the financial year 2012-13 and previous years.


Table 2: Summary of in-year Council Tax percentage received, by year to which the bill refers: Scotland and Local Authorities (1)

2002-03
Percentage collected in billing year
2003-04
Percentage collected in billing year
2004-05
Percentage collected in billing year
2005-06 (2)
Percentage collected in billing year
2006-07 (2)
Percentage collected in billing year
2007-08 (2)
Percentage collected in billing year
2008-09 (2)
Percentage collected in billing year
2009-10 (2)
Percentage collected in billing year
2010-11 (2)
Percentage collected in billing year
2011-12 (2)
Percentage collected in billing year
2012-13 (2)
Percentage collected in billing year (provisional)
Scotland 91.4 91.7 92.7 93.3 93.8 94.2 94.3 94.4 94.7 95.1 95.1
Aberdeen City 90.1 90.2 91.5 92.2 93.3 93.8 94.5 94.0 93.3 93.7 94.4
Aberdeenshire 94.0 94.0 95.3 95.8 95.9 96.1 96.0 95.7 95.8 96.2 96.2
Angus(3)(4) 94.7 95.0 95.6 95.8 96.4 96.6 96.5 96.5 97.4 97.9 97.7
Argyll & Bute 93.0 94.0 95.5 94.9 95.7 95.8 96.0 95.9 96.1 96.1 95.8
Clackmannanshire(3)(4) 90.2 91.2 91.3 92.1 92.6 92.6 92.9 93.1 93.3 95.2 94.8
Dumfries & Galloway 94.0 94.1 94.6 94.1 94.8 95.0 95.3 95.4 95.5 95.7 95.8
Dundee City(3)(4) 85.7 86.2 87.1 90.7 90.7 92.1 91.3 91.4 92.9 93.3 93.1
East Ayrshire(3)(4) 88.3 90.1 91.3 92.0 92.4 92.4 94.1 94.1 94.2 94.3 93.8
East Dunbartonshire 93.6 94.1 94.7 95.3 95.6 96.2 96.3 96.5 96.6 96.6 96.6
East Lothian 94.5 95.3 96.0 96.1 96.1 96.2 96.1 95.4 95.3 95.8 96.3
East Renfrewshire(3)(4) 95.2 95.4 95.4 95.7 95.9 96.4 96.2 96.5 96.8 97.2 97.6
Edinburgh, City of 90.7 87.6 90.4 91.8 92.6 92.9 93.0 92.8 94.3 94.6 94.5
Eilean Siar(3) 91.1 92.0 92.6 93.9 93.7 94.3 94.6 94.5 94.6 94.6 95.2
Falkirk(4) 94.0 94.6 95.2 95.9 96.2 96.4 96.1 96.0 96.1 96.1 95.5
Fife(3)(4) 91.9 93.0 93.9 94.0 94.3 94.3 93.5 93.9 93.8 95.2 95.5
Glasgow City(3)(4) 83.7 85.1 85.6 86.1 86.0 88.0 90.0 92.0 92.3 92.6 93.1
Highland 92.6 93.5 94.1 95.1 95.4 95.5 95.3 95.0 95.4 95.5 95.6
Inverclyde 88.0 89.4 90.7 91.9 93.1 93.5 93.3 93.7 94.0 94.2 94.2
Midlothian(3) 93.1 93.9 94.2 94.2 94.3 94.6 94.1 92.7 93.0 93.6 93.9
Moray(3) 92.7 94.9 95.6 96.0 96.6 96.8 96.7 96.8 97.0 97.3 95.6
North Ayrshire 89.9 89.8 91.7 92.8 93.3 93.8 93.6 93.8 93.6 93.6 93.5
North Lanarkshire(3)(4) 92.2 93.2 93.6 94.2 94.6 94.8 94.2 94.5 94.5 94.4 94.0
Orkney Islands(4) 97.7 97.8 97.3 97.6 97.8 97.7 97.4 97.7 97.6 97.5 98.1
Perth & Kinross(3) 95.0 95.3 96.1 96.4 96.6 96.4 96.2 96.3 97.2 97.7 96.6
Renfrewshire(3)(4) 93.5 93.9 94.2 94.7 94.9 95.0 94.5 94.6 95.1 95.6 96.0
Scottish Borders 96.0 95.6 96.6 96.7 96.8 96.6 96.7 96.6 96.4 96.5 96.6
Shetland Islands 96.1 95.9 96.1 96.0 96.3 96.4 96.5 96.5 96.4 96.5 96.7
South Ayrshire 94.0 94.3 94.5 94.8 94.8 95.3 94.7 94.8 95.2 94.8 94.9
South Lanarkshire(3)(4) 93.5 93.9 94.6 94.8 95.1 95.2 94.9 94.9 94.7 95.6 95.7
Stirling(4) 95.8 96.4 96.4 96.8 96.9 97.1 97.1 97.2 97.4 97.3 97.7
West Dunbartonshire(3)(4) 87.0 87.5 89.4 90.4 92.1 92.8 93.0 94.1 94.1 94.2 94.4
West Lothian 92.3 92.7 93.0 93.5 93.8 94.0 94.0 94.4 94.4 94.1 93.5

Source: 2002-03 to 2011-12 - Statutory Performance Indicators published by Audit Scotland, 2012-13 - Information supplied by Councils to Scottish Government on the CTRR statistical return

(1) The figures exclude Council Tax Benefit and Water and Sewerage Charges. They are before any amounts written off for bad or doubtful debt and reflect any correction to liabilities following billing.

(2) 2005-06 onwards - Figures include additional amounts in respect of reduced Second Home/Long Term Empty property discounts

(3) For 2011-12; (4) For 2012-13: These councils have reported their collection rates on a "line by line" accounting basis. The line by line basis can potentially lead to an increase in the collection rate (see background notes); changing from a line by line basis can contribute to a decrease. Earlier statistical collections did not ask councils for information on the accounting basis used.

Table 2

Table 2 shows the council-tax in-year collection rates (that is, the amount of council tax collected by the end of the relevant billing year, as a percentage of billed council tax). In-year collection rates have increased steadily from 87.2% in 1998-99; to 91.4% in 2002-03; to 95.1% in 2012-13, highlighting improvements in the abilities of councils to collect council tax on time. This may in part be due to more efficient collection methods (for example, we know a number of authorities have sought to promote and increase collection of council tax by direct debit and other direct methods).

Improvements are particularly clear for the local authorities which previously had the lowest rates of in-year collection (for example, the in-year collection rate for Glasgow City substantially improved from 83.7% in 2002-03 to 93.1% in 2012-13) hence variation of in-year collection rates between local authorities is now far less pronounced than in earlier years.

The trends described above are clearly illustrated in Chart 1, which shows the increasing in-year collection rate for Scotland and the reduction in variation between collection rates for individual Local Authorities.

Summary of in-year Council Tax percentage received, by year to which the bill refers: Scotland, and minimum and maximum for Local Authorities

Contact

Email: David McLaren

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