Over 400,000 Scots Missed Council Tax Payments Last Year

As many as 426,000 adults living in Scotland are understood to have missed at least one council tax payment last year because they ran out of money.

That’s according to research carried out for Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS), which suggests roughly a third of people across the country ran out of money in advance of pay day at some point in 2020.

Of those many thousands of people, around 30 per cent missed a council tax payment because they could not afford to make it, which CAS says equates to a total of almost 430,000 adults living in Scotland.

Problems with debt and with personal finances worsened for millions of people last year as the pandemic wreaked havoc across so much of the UK economy.

The government’s furlough scheme and increases to Universal Credit helped millions of people get by financially during the worst of the Covid crisis but huge numbers of people were nonetheless unable to pay their council tax bills on time.

According to the CAS, council tax arrears are now among the most cited sources of concern among people who contact the charity for help in dealing with their problem debts.

CAS experts are worried that the financial pressures on households across Scotland will mount up in the coming weeks as energy bills rise and after Universal Credit payments were scaled back by £20 per week.

“Council tax debt is the biggest debt issue the Citizens Advice network sees, and it’s concerning that so many people are missing payments because they have run out of money,” said Myles Fitt from CAS.

“The ending of furlough and other pandemic related financial support measures will have a significant impact on many but other emerging cost pressures are creating a perfect financial storm on household budgets this autumn,” he added.

If you live anywhere in Scotland and you are worried about your personal debts then Scotland Debt Solutions may be able to help. You can contact us any time to arrange a FREE and no obligation consultation.