Fraser Of Allender Explains - What Does This Mean For The Scottish Government?

7th March 2024

Barnett consequentials have been announced of £295m in 2024-25, largely due to higher spending on the NHS in England (£237m) and a larger settlement for English local government (£48m), with the latter already committed to partially pay for the council tax freeze. There is nothing additional on capital apart from small amounts from 2025-26 (less than £80m a year).

As is now customary, we have produced a handy table to guide you through the different decisions and whether or not they apply in Scotland - and if they are devolved, what the Barnett consequentials are.

The Scottish Budget featured a number of difficult decisions by the Scottish Government, with a particularly tough settlement on the capital side. In many ways, this remains the case - there have been no changes in CDEL allocations for the coming year, with all the consequentials coming on the resource side.

Nevertheless, and as expressed in paragraphs 1.60 and 1.61 of the Treasury's guide on Consolidated Budgeting Guidance, the Scottish Government would be allowed to move these resource consequentials (or indeed other resource allocations) into the capital budget - just not the other way around. We'll see whether it decides to do that for any of the additional funds.