23 January 2004
Councils in Scotland are still struggling to cut rent arrears and are owed £28.5m – 7.4% – of the income they were due last year, the Accounts Commission said this week.
In a report on performance indicators for 2002/03, the commission disclosed that just half of the 30 councils providing full-year data managed to reduce tenants' rent arrears.
Glasgow and Scottish Borders councils are excluded because they have transferred their housing stock to housing associations.
The figures showed that the number of councils meeting the commission's target levels of arrears has dropped from six in the previous two years to four.
In its latest report, covering performance information, the commission pointed out that Orkney Islands and Perth & Kinross continued to meet the 3% target previously set for semi-urban and rural areas. North Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire both met the 7% target for the city and urban group.
Overall, only 15 councils reduced their arrears from the figures for the previous year.
West Dunbartonshire (18.2%) continued to report the highest level of arrears of any council, although it had slightly improved over the previous year and notably improved from its 23% figure in 2001/02, the commission said.
The proportion of councils with serious rent arrears, or more than 13 weeks in arrears, was 4.8% in 2002/03 for the 29 councils that provided reliable, full-year data.
Commission chair Alastair MacNish commended councils for improving home care services by, for example, including greater flexibility in the evenings, overnight and at weekends.
However, he voiced concern over the school occupancy indicators.
These showed that a third of primary schools and one in nine secondary schools were seriously under-occupied. In these schools, only 60%, or less, of the places were needed in 2002/03.
PFjan2004
