Thursday, October 01, 2009

2010/11 Budget - more money for Councils

Some disclaimers to start with:
  • this post is about the 2010/11 Local Government budget in Scotland
  • it's not about any other aspect of the Scottish Budget
  • and it's not about any other (future) years
  • and it's based on the figures released a few weeks ago

OK - now put all the political shouting about the overall Scottish Budget to one side and here are the unquestionable facts for the forthcoming financial year as regards Local Government:

  • the 2010/11 Scottish Local Government budget is going UP from £9,589.9million last year to £9,809.0million this year (see first table here)
  • that's an increase of £219.1million in cash (nominal) terms
  • in 'real' terms the 2010/11 figure relates to about £9,664.0million
  • that's a 'real terms' increase of £74.1million (from the previous year) for Scottish Local Government
  • so, Scottish Local Government is getting a 2.3% cash (nominal) increase
  • and, Scottish Local Government is getting a 0.8% 'real terms' increase next year
  • see table 1, on page 2, here for confirmation of these facts
  • the figures here (as above) correlate to the official figures here, from the first bullet-point above

Yes - you've got it ... Scottish Local Government is getting MORE MONEY in real terms (not just cash terms) in 2010/11 as compared to 2009/10.

Remember, this post is not about future years - but the unquestionable facts above may well be worth remembering in the gathering political hysteria as we move towards setting our own Local Council Budget for 2010/11 in early February ...

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