Audit Scotland
Covid-19: Personal protective equipment 
NHS in Scotland 2022 
Scotland's financial response to Covid-19 
Covid-19: Implications for public finances in Scotland 
Covid-19: Tracking the implications of Covid-19 on Scotland's public finances 
Covid-19: Tracking the impact of Covid-19 on Scotland's public finances: a further update 
NHS in Scotland 2021 
Community empowerment: Covid-19 update 
Covid-19: Vaccination programme 
The 2020/21 audit of NHS National Services Scotland 
Digital progress in Local Government 
Local Government in Scotland Overview 2022 
Local Government in Scotland Overview 2021 
Scotland's economy: Supporting businesses through the Covid-19 pandemic 
Local government in Scotland: Financial overview 2020/21 
Financial bulletin 2021/22 
The 2021/22 audit of the Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts 
The 2020/21 audit of the Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts 
Integration Joint Boards: Financial analysis 2020/21 
The digital divide - inequality in a digital world 
Improving outcomes for young people through school education 
The impact of Covid-19 on Scottish councils' benefit services 
Scotland's public finances: Challenges and risks 
We published Scotland's financial response to Covid-19 in June 2022. This update presents Covid-19 spending for 2020/21 and 2021/22 in an interactive format.
The exhibits are interactive, click on them to highlight areas of interest or hover over for more information.
If you are viewing this site on a mobile device, you may want to rotate your device to landscape orientation. This will let you view the details of the more complex interactive charts and graphs.
We have used information published by the Scottish Government in their budgets and accounts and information from Local Government accounts. The data is correct up to 29 March 2023.
The data is downloadable as csv files on this page.
Scottish Government spending was funded mainly through £14.4 billion of Barnett consequentials, which come from UK Government spending on the pandemic in the rest of the UK. The rest was funded from elsewhere in the Scottish budget and the Scotland Reserve.
UK Government spending programmes were a key part of the pandemic response, totalling over £321 billion across the UK. In Scotland, UK-wide spending programmes provided more than £11.4 billion of support. These funds were not controlled by the Scottish Government.
| Covid-19 Barnett consequentials | Budgeted to
spend on Covid-19
|
Actual spending
on Covid-19
|
|---|---|---|
| £14.4 billion | £15.5 billion1 | £14.5 billion |
Note 1: This is a gross figure so includes instances where Covid-19 funding was later reallocated in year to different areas of Covid-19 spending. The net figure is £15.2 billion.
The actual amount spent was lower than the amount budgeted because:
The difference was used to support other areas of Scottish Government spending or was carried through the Scotland Reserve and used in the following year.
Through our reporting on Covid-19 finances we said that the Scottish Government had difficulties tracking its spending on Covid-19 because it is not a budgetary or accounting classification. Read more in our Covid-19 report and tracker papers.
Source: Scottish Government budget data, Consolidated Accounts, Audit Scotland analysis.
Source: Scottish Government budget data, Consolidated Accounts, Audit Scotland analysis.
Source: Scottish Government budget data, Consolidated Accounts, Audit Scotland analysis.
Note: The Scottish Government reallocated underspend in demand-led business support funding from the Finance and Economy portfolio to support other areas of the budget.
Note: The Scottish Government changed the titles of some of their portfolios and what spending is included within each between 2020/21 and 2021/22.
Source: Scottish Government budget data, Consolidated Accounts, Audit Scotland analysis.
The largest amounts were budgeted to support for business and for health and social care.
Source: Scottish Government budget data, Audit Scotland analysis.
Councils and health and social care received the most Covid-19 funding.
Source: Scottish Government 2020/21 Consolidated Accounts, Audit Scotland analysis.
Source: Scottish Government 2021/22 Consolidated Accounts, Audit Scotland analysis.
There were three main ways that the Scottish Government spent money through councils during the pandemic:
The graphs below show only the funding distributed through the general revenue grant.
Note: This is funding allocated through the general revenue grant and does not include the majority of business support funding.
Source: Local Government Finance Circulars.
Note: This is funding allocated through the general revenue grant and does not include the majority of business support funding
Source: Local Government Finance Circulars, Audit Scotland analysis.
Note: This is funding allocated through the general revenue grant and does not include the majority of business support funding.
Source: Local Government Finance Circulars, Audit Scotland analysis.
The Scottish Government spent around £5 billion supporting businesses through the pandemic. The largest areas of funding shown below made up 81 per cent of support. The remaining funding was made up of around 120 small funds supporting a range of businesses such as museums, farmers and childminders.
The Scottish Government has not yet published a full breakdown of business support spending by council.
Source: Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts.
Read more about business support here: Scotland's economy. Supporting businesses through the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Scottish Government treats the payments it makes to delivery partners as spending; however, the money may not have reached the end user at that point. This makes it complex to track Covid-19 spending over time.
Some funding provided to councils was provided late in the year and not spent in 2020/21 and 2021/22; this was carried into future years in their reserves. Councils have now allocated their Covid-19 reserves to spend over the coming years.
Note: Council general fund reserves excluding the housing revenue account.
Source: Council audited accounts, Audit Scotland analysis.
Note: Council general fund reserves excluding the housing revenue account.
Source: Council audited accounts, Audit Scotland analysis.
This is largely due to additional Covid-19 funding received at the end of the year.
IJB Covid-19 reserves will be used in 2022/23:
Source: IJB audited accounts, Audit Scotland analysis.
Source: IJB audited accounts, Audit Scotland analysis.
Specific funding for Covid-19 funding has ended. Covid-19 spending must be managed alongside a range of other challenges such as the cost-of-living crisis and the increase in inflation. For example:
Read more about the financial sustainability challenges facing the Scottish public sector.
Over the last three years, the Auditor General and Accounts Commission have published reports looking at aspects of the public sector's response to the pandemic. The Scottish Government has agreed to a public inquiry to investigate the handling of the pandemic in Scotland. This is likely to cover some of the themes which have emerged from our reporting.
These themes are not new. The public sector is facing a period of sustained financial challenge and the pace of service reform needs to increase. Click below for more information on each theme and links to our reports.
The Scottish Government, councils and other public bodies were not prepared for the scale and extent of the pandemic. This is in terms of the health response required and the financial processes that needed to be put in place.
Transparency suffered at times because decisions had to be taken at speed.
The Scottish Government, councils, other public bodies and communities worked well in partnership to respond to the pandemic. The Scottish Government also worked closely with the UK Government to understand the funding that was available to it.
An evaluation is needed to be clear on what worked well or not. That will ensure mistakes are not repeated and innovations retained instead of returning to old ways of working. This is especially important as Scotland increasingly faces more cross-cutting challenges such as tackling child poverty and climate change.
Large amounts of funding were spent quickly and in changing circumstances which makes budget management very difficult. Overall, we found that the Scottish Government was largely responsible for the spend and managed its budget well, but transparency suffered at times.
As auditors we found it difficult to track Covid-19 spending from announcements to budgets and on actual amounts spent. Improvements have been made but scrutiny is still difficult.
The pandemic has not affected everyone equally, in fact it has exacerbated existing inequalities. The lack of services and move online has impacted some groups more than others. As the country recovers from the pandemic and faces new challenges it will be important to understand the impact on different groups.
Public sector staff across Scotland worked extremely hard in very difficult circumstances. Our audit work has highlighted the pressure this has put on them in terms of wellbeing, sickness absence and the ability to provide a service.
The pandemic affected public bodies' ability to make efficiency savings. They need to be clear about how one-off funding is spent especially if that is on costs likely to be repeated in future years.
Additional funding comes to Scotland when the UK Government spends money in England in a devolved policy area. The Scottish Government receives this funding in the form of Barnett consequentials and has flexibility in deciding how to allocate this funding. ↩
The process whereby any underspend in the Scottish Budget can be carried forward to be used in future years. It is capped at £700 million. The Scottish Fiscal Commission has more information here. ↩
Business rates paid by local business to a Local Authority. ↩
