Fife waits on share of Scottish Government £63m windfall revealed night before budget

It was the eleventh hour - the night before Fife Council was due to set its 2024-25 budget - when Deputy First Minister Shona Robison announced that she would hand over an extra £62.7 million to local authorities to fund the council tax freeze.

Fife’s portion of that money is unknown as of yet, and the funds were announced too late to alter the course of the budget meeting at Fife House on Thursday morning.

“Late last night, a letter was received [from the Deputy First Minister],” Eileen Rowand, Fife’s executive director of finance explained. “It was addressed to the COSLA president, vice president, and the spokesperson for resources with council leaders copied in.”

She continued: “Within the letter, there was notification that there will be an additional £62.7 million coming to councils to use as they see fit.”

It was reported that the money will be released to help fund the Council Tax freeze proposed by the Scottish Government for the upcoming financial year.

Mrs Rowand explained that a large chunk of that money - £45 million of it - is linked to “consequentials” or changes in the UK Government’s Spring budget.

However, the news came too late to make a difference to Fife’s budget discussions.

“The intention is to continue with the proposals you have in front of you,” Mrs Rowand said.

“Clearly, we have to find out more information about this £62.7. There will be an opportunity to take further budget decisions through the Cabinet Committee or we can schedule another meeting in due course.”

Budget discussions continued as planned, and Labour’s proposals won the day with support from the Lib-Dem and Tory groups.