Briefing Paper on Research from Citizens Advice Scotland May 2022.

Council tax debt is the single most common debt type for Scotland’s Citizens Advice Network: a persistent trend over the last decade. In 2021/22, the network provided 18,752 pieces of advice on council tax arrears; accounting for 16% of all debt advice. Advice relating to council tax arrears has significantly increased by 22% since pre-pandemic levels in 2019/20. 

Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) wanted to understand the reasons why council tax debt persists in being our top debt issue by examining the drivers behind council tax debt so we commissioned qualitative research  and also conducted a survey of the public. This paper outlines our findings, recommendations and solutions.

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