Scotland

The Scottish Fiscal Commission confirms higher funding this year but warns about a tough fiscal outlook. 

Around £790 million extra funding has become available this year, but painful trade-offs will be required in 2027–28 and beyond.

GERS 2025–26 shows Scotland’s underlying net fiscal deficit improving but still much higher than the UK as a whole

Scottish Government funding likely to fall in 2027–28, meaning manifesto pledges could force spending cuts or increases to devolved taxes.

All parties’ plans would add to the fiscal challenges facing the next Scottish Government – albeit to very different extents

A manifesto pledging a bigger welfare state with or without independence, but which fails to properly confront the fiscal implications of its plans

A manifesto with big tax and bigger spending increases – and a mixed bag of tax reforms.

A focus on improving existing services rather than new entitlements or tax cuts

A plan for big tax cuts that is costed on paper, but which may not survive contact with reality.

Scotland has more funding and more powers, but the next Holyrood government still faces tough choices on tax, spending and public services.

A plan bold in ambition, but lacking in fiscal credibility

English hospital services are in a relatively poor state - yet still look substantially better on many measures than those in Scotland and Wales

An explanation of the 'Barnett formula' used in funding arrangements for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Politicians in Holyrood and Cardiff Bay make decisions on some but not all public policies, taxes and areas of public spending.

What are block grant adjustments and how are they calculated?

Funding from the UK government is the largest source of funding for both the Scottish and Welsh Governments.

What borrowing and reserves powers do the Scottish and Welsh Governments have?

Reform UK says it would cut income tax in Scotland if it wins the Scottish Parliament election in May.

The Scottish Budget brings pre-election sweeteners and post-election cuts to many services 

Scotland increasingly relies on implicit fiscal transfers from the rest of the UK – but this is also true of the North, Midlands and Wales.

IFS researchers respond to Scottish fiscal announcements. 

Updated forecasts for tax revenues and benefit spending imply a more challenging funding outlook for the Scottish Government.

Today’s SFC report highlights the fiscal challenges facing the Scottish and UK governments over coming decades.

Mitigating the two-child limit policy would be an effective way to reduce child poverty, but designing an effective policy is not straightforward. 

In-year top-ups mean big increases in Scottish NHS spending this year – but that means plans for 2025–26 now look relatively less generous.

How will the latest plans for spending in 2024–25 boost the amount that the Scottish Government has to spend next year and beyond?

This response to a UK parliamentary inquiry assesses how the Scottish Government is funded, including via the Barnett formula and Fiscal Framework.

Shona Robison’s budget speech failed to set out a long-term plan for growth-enhancing reforms

Our initial response to the Scottish Government’s Budget for 2025-26.

How is the NHS in Scotland performing, and what does this mean for the Scottish Budget?

The UK Budget has improved the Scottish funding outlook, but tough choices loom down the line 

Falls in funding for home students, a decline in international enrolments and higher labour costs put Scottish university finances under pressure.

Scotland’s income tax rises have likely increased tax avoidance and migration – but the size of the effects is uncertain.

Following a bulge in claims, recent figures suggest new disability benefits may not pose as big a cost to the Scottish Budget 2024 as first feared.

How are income taxes structured, how has this changed, where are there problems with the system and what should the next government be looking to fix?