Cash-strapped councils pay record £1.23bn on pensions

SCOTLAND’S councils are spending record sums on pensions and have plunged deeper into debt.

The Scottish Government has revealed that our 32 local authorities spent £1.23billion on pensions last year – up 4.5 per cent on the previous year.

At the same time, total council debt rocketed – and interests and repayments now cost the public purse £1.45billion a year.

The figures sparked claims the SNP has failed to provide enough funding to councils – forcing them to cut services.

It comes as many local authorities will increase council tax by 3 per cent from April – and all households in Bands E-H will have increased council tax bills thanks to Government reforms.

Graham Simpson, local government spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives, said: ‘These statistics put a spotlight on the struggle councils have faced as a result of the SNP’s cruel council cuts.

‘With debts racking up significantly, councils are feeling the effects of an overly controlling SNP Government.’

Government figures yesterday showed total spending on interest and debt repayments by councils increased by 2.5 per cent last year, to £1.45billion. Spending on pensions increased to a record £1.23billion, while total debt rocketed to £16.1billion and has now soared by £1.1 billion in the past four years.

Overall, councils ended 2015-16 with a revenue surplus of £450million, up from £350million the previous year. Spending on services increased by 0.7 per cent to £10.1billion in 2015-16, with the highest spend of £4.7billion going on education.

A further £3.2 billion was spent on social work services.

The Government said total spending on education by councils had increased in real terms.

But a Scottish Labour spokesman said: ‘Under the SNP, the budget for local services like schools has been cut by £1.5billion since 2011. That is why there are 4,000 fewer teachers and the gap between the richest and the rest in our classrooms is growing.

‘At the Scottish Labour Conference, Kezia Dugdale announced a proposal to top up child benefit by £240 per year, lifting 30,000 children out of poverty. That’s the kind of action we need to see.’

Finance Secretary Derek Mackay said: ‘Today’s statistics show that the Scottish Government continues to treat local government very fairly at a time of continuing austerity from the UK Government. It is encouraging to note that the highest spends across 2015-16 were in education and social care, as they were the previous year, and that there was a welcome real terms increase of 1.9 per cent in spending on education by local government.

‘In the Budget Bill 2017-18, the local government finance settlement – plus the other sources of support available through the actual and potential increases in council tax income and the support through the Health and Social Care Integration – amounts to an overall increase of potentially over £400million or 3.9 per cent in cash terms, or £250million or 2.4 per cent in real terms.’

‘Struggling after SNP’s cruel cuts’