About this data
- Spending is divided by each council area's population in mid-2025.
- Figures are councils' net revenue expenditure on services: day-to-day spending, after income from fees, charges, rents and ring-fenced government grants (about £0.4 billion in 2026-27) is taken off. They are on a 'funding basis', without accounting charges such as depreciation. Capital spending, debt costs, council housing (the Housing Revenue Account) and housing benefit are not included.
- Police, fire and rescue, and water are run nationally in Scotland, not by councils. Adult social care is planned with the NHS through integration joint boards (IJBs): councils' spending here is what they pay into them, and NHS funding for social care isn't counted.
- Spending per person is highest in Shetland, Orkney and Na h-Eileanan Siar (the Western Isles), where small populations are spread over many islands, which makes services such as schools, care and transport (including ferries) more costly to run. Shetland and Orkney also have harbour accounts, which are not included.
- Figures are put on as similar a basis as possible to England's, but each nation's councils provide different services and are funded differently, and the statistics are collected in different ways, so comparisons between the nations are only rough. In particular, Scottish and Welsh councils fund almost all state schools, while in England most schools are academies, funded directly by central government.
This chart appears in Public spending.