Soaring welfare bill, ScotRail fares and tax gap heap pressure on Scottish Budget

Soaring welfare bill, ScotRail fares and tax gap heap pressure on Scottish Budget

Scotland’s public finances face growing strain from rising welfare costs, public sector pay pressures and a looming £851 million income tax shortfall.

SFC forecasts and SHERU research collaboration themes

This week has seen the release of the Scottish Fiscal Commission’s updated forecasts for Scotland’s economy and the funding of the Scottish Government. These forecasts were originally meant to accompany the Medium-Term Financial Strategy and Fiscal Sustainability Delivery Plan, but as we covered a few weeks ago, Cabinet Secretary for Finance Shona Robison abruptly deferred those publications to the end of the Parliamentary session. The SFC was n…

Updated forecasts set the context for pre-budget scrutiny

Over the next month there will be several publications which will inform pre-budget scrutiny in the Scottish Parliament. Yesterday, the Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC) published the first of these - their updated economic and fiscal forecasts. This forecast sets out how the expected performance of the Scottish economy will feed through to the Scottish Budget,…

Scotland's Economic and Fiscal Forecasts

MODEST GROWTH IN FUNDING SINCE LAST SCOTTISH BUDGET, BUT SIGNIFICANT PRESSURES ON SPENDING. The Scottish Fiscal Commission has today published its latest economic and fiscal forecasts.