One of the challenges political leaders face in 2021 is dealing with the financial hangover from the pandemic.
Furlough will end at some point an unemployment is likely to soar to unprecedented levels.
Hospitality businesses, which have been unable to ply their trade, also face another difficult year.
People’s ability to pay their bills – from rent to keeping the heating on – will also come under greater pressure.
Citizens Advice Scotland has said that throughout 2019-20 – largely before the pandemic – ordinary folk were approaching them about council tax debt issues.
They estimate that 2257 people sought their support, with arrears totalling £6.8million.
CAS has also warned this problem is about to get worse, with Scotland facing an “explosion” of council tax debt this year.
The Scottish and UK Governments must heed this warning and put in place measures to nip it in the bud.
Policy options floated by CAS – including writing off debt and establishing a Council Tax Hardship Fund – deserve serious consideration.
Council tax is already unfair, as it is based on out of date property values rather than on ability to pay.
It is a disgrace that a tax introduced by John Major’s government has survived 20 years of devolution.
The Scottish Government must find the extra cash to ensure that struggling council tax payers do not get into even more debt.
Fill in the data gap on disabled
Shock figures reveal about 60 per cent of people who have died of Covid-19 in England and Wales considered themselves disabled in the 2011 census.
South of the Border, disabled men under 65 are approximately 6.5 times more likely to die of coronavirus, while the figure for disabled women is even larger.
However, the reason we know about these appalling figures is because the statistics exist.
In Scotland, we have no idea how many disabled people have died from coronavirus.
It is unsurprising, therefore, that a charity chief executive has warned that disabled people in Scotland could be made to feel like “second-class citizens”.
This data gap needs to be filled urgently and we need to know about the impact of coronavirus on vulnerable citizens.
