A TREASURY spokesperson has revealed that the Scottish Government receives at least 20% more per person than equivalent UK Government spending in the rest of the country.
In a statement to the MP for Edinburgh South West, Dr Scott Arthur, the Scottish Government was said to receive over £8.5bn more than the rest of the UK in 2025-26.
This comes as the deputy first minister said last week that the government is facing a shortfall of more than £200m due to the increase in National Insurance contributions for employers.
Whilst the government’s budget is said to be growing, ministers worry that compensation will be too low to cover the extra costs.
The Scottish budget is set to pass at the end of this month, but it does not account for increases in National Insurance payments for the public sector.
Last month, Dr Arthur asked the Treasury the following question: “To ask the chancellor of the exchequer, whether she has made an estimate of the Barnett consequential funding for Scotland associated with investment in filling potholes in England’s roads and footpaths.”
A spokesperson for the treasury replied: “The Block Grant Transparency publication breaks down all changes in the devolved governments’ block grant funding from the 2015 Spending Review up to and including Main Estimates 2023-24.
“The most recent report was published in July 2023 and the next report will be published in due course.
“Barnett-based funding is not ringfenced for any one policy area and it is for the Scottish Government to allocate this funding in devolved areas as they see fit.
“They can therefore take their own decisions on managing and investing available resources, reflecting their own priorities and local circumstances, and they are accountable to the Scottish Parliament for these decisions.
“The Scottish Government’s budget is growing in real terms in 2025-26 and its settlement for 2025-26 is the largest settlement in real terms of any Scottish Government settlement since devolution.
“The Scottish Government is receiving at least 20% more per person than equivalent UK Government spending in the rest of the UK.
“That translates into over £8.5bn more in 2025-26.”
Barnett-based funding refers to the formula used by the Treasury to calculate how the block grant, allocated to administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, changes each year.
Deputy first minister Kate Forbes told the BBC last week: “We know that there will be a shortfall in covering National Insurance contributions for the public sector.
“At the moment the public sector will have to absorb that.
“In the same way that we can’t invent money to cover this, we ultimately have to balance our budget and we balance our budget by ensuring that we cover all costs.
“And there will be an expectation on all parts of the public sector, just as there is in the private sector, to ensure that they cover their tax liabilities.”
