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FINANCE

Scottish councils need extra £1bn to 'survive'

Councils in Scotland need more than an extra £1bn a year just to survive, a new briefing has warned.

Councils in Scotland need more than an extra £1bn a year just to survive, a new briefing has warned.

The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) briefing called for urgent action to reverse the real terms cuts to councils' budgets in recent years.

In 2021-22, the revenue settlement for local government was just over £11bn.

However, COSLA claimed that to survive councils needed £12.07bn and it argued that to thrive councils should receive a settlement of £12.66bn.

COSLA's resources spokesperson, Cllr Gail Macgregor, said: 'Local government has been the poor relation of recent Budgets, and our local knowledge and links need to be used fully before we are past the point of no return.

'Our communities are starting to show the neglect of an under-funded local government.

'Quite simply, what we need from this Budget is proper funding to provide the everyday services our communities need and deserve.'

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