Finance · UAE Weekly
Image source, Press Association Image caption, Finance Secretary Jenny Gilruth is due to announce the Scottish Budget next month By Claire Thomson BBC Scotland Scottish ministers will work with councils to ensure a £100 energy payment is passed on to households in Scotland following Chancellor John Healey's Autumn Budget announcement. On Wednesday, Healey told a packed House of Commons that about 20 million households in England - in council tax bands A to D - would receive £100 this winter, paid directly into bank accounts. The Labour minister said the payment would "help deal with rising energy bills and take the pressure off in the coldest months".
Scotland's deputy first minister and finance secretary, Jenny Gilruth, told BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast the Scottish government would seek to replicate the scheme but it was "not a perfect solution". "We will work with local government partners on how we roll out the funding," she said. Healey said the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish governments would receive funding proportionate to the £2.6bn scheme and urged them to replicate it.
"I call on them to do the same and give people of all nations in the UK breathing space on their energy bills this winter," he said. There are about 1.9 million homes in Scotland in council tax bands A to D, according to government figures. To give each of those households £100 would cost at least £190m.
Existing council tax bands are based on 1991 valuation of homes. There is cross-party agreement at Holyrood that the outdated system should be reformed but no consensus as to how that should be done. Gilruth said the Scottish government would not be able to re-band the council tax valuations between now and winter.
"The important thing is that people get this money in to their accounts and they benefit financially from this because bills are so high at the current time," the deputy first minister said. "There are always challenges around the ways in which the UK government administers funding to those most in need. "But we need to ensure the people get the money that is needed." Image source, Press Association Image caption, John Healey announced the Budget in the House of Commons Gilruth added that she did not know about the scheme prior to the Budget announcement and would have liked to have seen the UK government "go further".
"This is not a scheme of our making and we are now having to play catch-up with the UK government on this," she said. "I do think it is regrettable they were not able to share details of the scheme in advance of the Budget but that is a decision they have taken." Also speaking on BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast, Chief Secretary of the Treasury Emma Reynolds said she had spoken to Gilruth on Wednesday morning before the announcements. "I'm sorry she feels like that," Reynolds told the programme.
"I shared with her information that we had not shared publicly on the trust she would keep it private, which she did. "She had some heads up to the Barnett consequentials of the Budget that were going to be announced later that day." She added that she welcomed the Scottish government's decision to give people in the bottom four council tax bands the £100 payment. "The prime minister has said he wants to work closely with the Scottish government and it is my impression that I am working closely with Jenny on some of the big issues around the Budget," she said.
How can I find my council tax band? Scotland currently has eight council tax bands, from A to H, based on estimated property values as of 1 April 1991 - the same valuation date as England. However, Scotland uses different band thresholds assigned by the local Scottish Assessor.
Band A in Scotland covers properties valued at up to £27,000, compared with £40,000 in England, while band H is for properties worth more than £212,000. Earlier this year, the Scottish government announced two new council tax bands, which are set to be added from April 2028 - band I for homes valued between £1m and £2m, and band J for properties above £2m. You can find your council tax band in Scotland by searching your address or postcode on the Scottish Assessors Association website , external or on your council tax bill.
Source: BBC
