Rising Council Tax in Scotland

With the biggest council tax increases in years recently announced across Scotland, Scots will now have their bill for the new financial year. We asked what people thought of the increases in their area, and what they think of the service their local council provides.

What did we ask?

1. In Scotland, council tax is rising across most council areas, ranging from rises of 7% up to over 15%. How justified do you think the rise in your area is?
2. How satisfied are you currently with your local council's services?
3. Which services do you think need the most improvement in your area?

Justification

Over half of Scots, 54%, say that the council tax rise in their area is not justified, while just under 1 in 3 (32%) say they are. Broken down further, 8% said the rises are wholly justified, while 35% said they are wholly unjustified. 

Males were more likely than average to say they are justified, with 36% saying they are, versus 28% of females, and those aged over 65 said they were justified to the greatest degree, with 45% agreeing.

Satisfaction

When asked a similar question about how satisfied respondents were with the services their local council provides, 64% said they were dissatisfied, while just 1 in 5 said they were satisfied.

Broken down, 31% said they were very dissatisfied, and just 3% said very satisfied. Older people were again most likely to give a more positive response, with 25% of over 65s saying they were satisfied with their local council's services.

Services needing improvement

We then asked our panellists what the top three services needing improvement in their area are. The most selected services can be seen in the graphic above - with 80% saying roads and transport, 41% social care and 36% housing and homelessness. 

Roads and transport was the most cited issue in all council areas bar one. Other stand-outs were 71% in Glasgow City citing bins and recycling and 51% in Edinburgh saying housing and homelessness.