Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Nicola Sturgeon to set out council tax reform plans

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon

Major council tax reforms will be set out by Nicola Sturgeon today, with authorities likely to receive more locally raised income.

Sources close to the first minister said the overhaul would be “significant” with longer-term changes expected, including councils being assigned a share of their income tax revenues.

SNP ministers – who will encourage local authorities to plough any extra cash into education – claim this would give councils the opportunity to boost economic growth in the face of budget cuts passed down from Holyrood.

Ms Sturgeon said: “Over nine years, the council tax freeze put in place by this government has helped to keep bills affordable during difficult economic times while ensuring councils are properly funded to provide public services.”

The cross-party Commission on Local Tax Reform, set up by the Scottish Government, concluded that council tax could not be overhauled to make it truly progressive. It is likely, however, that the SNP will significantly reform the current system rather than scrapping it.

Meanwhile, a new delivery agency is to be set up to administer welfare payments worth £2.7billion when they are devolved to Scotland.

Social Justice Secretary Alex Neil confirmed there will be a phased transition of the administration of powers over the next few years.

He said: “It will be underpinned by our commitment to principles that will treat people with dignity and respect. We want to take a fairer approach to social security that tackles inequalities.”

Conservative MSP John Lamont raised concerns about the level of preparation for delivering the new benefits.

He added: “It’s crucial that the cabinet secretary now sets out to the Scottish taxpayer some concrete proposals for the delivery of these powers and how it intends to pay for any possible divergence from the policies of the UK Government.”

Scottish Labour opportunity spokesman Iain Gray highlighted a new report by the Institute of Fiscal Studies states child poverty rates are expected to rise between 2015/16 and 2020/21.

He said: “With new powers over tax and social security coming to Scotland we must now take action to stop (child poverty).”