A tough winter could push more people into debt in the new year, especially council tax debt, according to Citizens Advice.

The end of furlough together with rising living costs and the weekly £20 reduction to Universal Credit payments could create the “perfect storm”, leaving people to choose which bills to pay, including council tax.

Council tax debt is currently the number one debt issue the Citizens Advice Bureau network sees, and the charity fears it could grow even further in 2022.

CAS Financial Health spokesperson Myles Fitt said: “This winter is set to be really challenging for so many families across Scotland. 

“Early data for 2021/22 suggests this problem is growing – and that’s before the perfect storm of rising costs and falling incomes hit people.

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“The combination of rising energy bills, the impact on incomes from the end of furlough and the £20 weekly reduction in Universal Credit has created a perfect financial storm for the thousands of households who were already experiencing money problems or who were just managing to get by.

“Council tax debt is the biggest debt issue the Citizens Advice network in Scotland sees, and people racked up millions of pounds in arrears during the pandemic. 

Glasgow Times:

“People struggling with money should seek help. We have online tools and people can also seek advice from a CAB in the new year. 

“Our advice is completely free and people should understand that they should never have to pay to receive debt advice.”

Analysis of figures for 2020/21 by Citizens Advice revealed 1,422 people sought help with a complex debt issue involving council tax, owing a cumulative £4.1 million in council tax arrears.

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A complex debt issue is where someone owes multiple debts.

The average debt owed was £2,925.84 – almost three times the average council tax bill of £1,198.

Data for the first two quarters of 2021/22 show this figure creeping even higher, with an average debt of £3,513.01 and a total debt of over £3.5million.

Taken together, this means over £7.6million in council tax debt over the course of the pandemic.

CAS is calling on people to make use of the Scottish Government’s Council Tax Reduction scheme which can help reduce future payments, which can also offer a backdate of up to six months.

They also advise using www.checkmycounciltax.scot to check all Council Tax entitlements to savings, reductions, discounts and exemptions to help lessen the pressure on meeting council tax bills.

The charity has also recently developed a new online tool called Money Map, which allows people to round up all their options to boost incomes and cut living costs during these difficult times at www.moneymap.scot.