Council leaders in Scotland have requested an urgent meeting with the first minister, claiming that they are in “fundamental dispute” over funding. The dispute centres on the Verity House Agreement, which outlines how local councils and the Scottish government relate to each other. The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA) has said that relations have broken down over issues such as the council tax freeze and the number of teachers. The group wrote in a letter seen by the BBC that it was in a “fundamental position of dispute”. Inverclyde Council leader Stephen McCabe said the Verity House Agreement was “dead in the water”.
Councils have objected to the announcement of a new council tax freeze by the first minister at the SNP conference in October, arguing that it was against the spirit of the agreement. McCabe claimed that the freeze was not fully funded by the government, which has refused to have any “meaningful negotiations” about the dispute. He said that some councils would ultimately accept the freeze, but others would reject it. CoSLA has recently asked for a council tax cap of up to 5% in exchange for the money set aside for the freeze, but the government has rejected this.
Finance Secretary Shona Robison said that the Scottish government has provided £147m to maintain a council tax freeze equivalent to 5% and £145m to maintain the number of teachers, but that it also had to be “reasonable and fair to the rest of the public sector”. She pointed out that councils could not have the funds to support a tax freeze if they chose not to freeze it, as it was ultimately the councils’ decision. She claimed that CoSLA had demanded money for the council tax freeze and “a number of other asks which isn’t a very reasonable negotiating position”. Robison said the government had met with CoSLA almost every week and would meet again next week.
The Verity House Agreement, signed in June 2023, set out how councils and the government would work together on shared priorities. However, the sudden announcement of the council tax freeze led to tensions between the two sides, as many councils felt that they were being offered insufficient funds to support a freeze. Councils are now deciding on their budgets for the coming year, which will be set over the next few weeks. It remains to be seen whether they will choose to raise the council tax or to accept the freeze, which would require significant rises in charges to be financially meaningful
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