Scotland spends 20% more per head on public services than England

Primary Author or Creator:
Claire Milne
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Fast Facts

It’s correct that spending on public services in Scotland is 20% higher per head than in England. But this money comes from the block grant from the UK Treasury, rather than from England specifically.  Also the only areas of England that are not in deficit according to this are London and the South east of England.

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Scotland, along with the other devolved countries of the UK, receives a block grant from the UK government. This amounted to around £25 billion in 2016/17 after adjustments have taken place. The UK government is responsible for collecting some, but not all taxes in Scotland.

Around 8% of all taxes collected by HMRC in 2016/17 came from Scotland. That amounted to just under £44 billion. 37% of all public sector spending in Scotland was undertaken by the UK government in 2016/17. We’ve looked more at taxation and spending in Scotland here.

Any changes in the amount of this block grant from the Treasury are calculated each year using the Barnett formula.

This isn’t the only place that money for spending on Scotland comes from though. Tax powers have been increasingly devolved to the Scottish parliament, particularly since 2016, which has reduced the proportion of the Scottish budget made up by the block grant.

English