Monday January 19th 2026
Written by Glasgow View Reporter, Katie Gregory
Shona Robison, the finance secretary, delivered her budget in the Scottish parliament last week.
The SNP prioritised tackling child poverty and the cost of living – while increasing funding for the NHS. Things could change after the Holyrood election in May, and there is always room for a U-turn – but for now, here is the budget broken down and what it will mean for you.
Taxes
The thresholds on the starter, basic and intermediate tax bands will increase. This will support the SNP argument that taxpayers have a smaller bill in Scotland than they would if they lived elsewhere. But the saving is really rather menial – sitting at only £32. The argument
seems even weaker when considering that those who earn more than £33,500 will face a higher bill than they would in England.
Robison doesn’t shy away from this glaring fact – and instead points to the idea of a “social contract”. This is an implicit agreement in which the public should pay higher taxes to receive essential public goods, services, security, and a functioning society which has efficient
healthcare, education, infrastructure, and welfare.
To fund these promises in councils across Scotland – local government funding will go up by 2 per cent, which means councils will most likely increase council tax in the weeks to come.
A mansion tax on properties worth more than £1 million will be introduced from April 2028.
There were, however, no changes to general land and buildings transaction tax on property purchases.
NHS
Funding for health and social care has reached £22.5 billion, and £36 million has been set aside to fund the rollout of walk -in clinics on high streets. Those working in adult social care are set to benefit and will receive the real living wage, which is currently £13.45 an hour. That will boost them ahead of the national minimum wage of £12.21.
Social security and families
The Scottish child payment will be increased to £40 for the first year of a baby’s life for eligible families. This means the benefit is worth £2,080 during the first 12 months for new parents. To show the contrast – the weekly payment is currently worth only £27.15.
Parents will be offered help during summer holidays this year, with initiatives to benefit children’s physical and mental health. This proposal includes free swimming lessons for every primary school pupil.
The Scottish government has also promised to introduce breakfast clubs in every primary school by August 2027, offering an hour of supervised childcare a day.
Business rates
The small business bonus scheme, in which many firms pay no rates – will be continued. This will be welcome news for the sector, as data from the Scottish government last year, showed that retail posts in Scotland are at their lowest levels since at least 2010. While Robison
highlights the need to help hospitality, tourism and leisure companies, the Scottish government ultimately needs to wait to see which rates the UK government implements for hospitality and pubs.
The Chair of the Federation of Small Businesses, Guy Hinks, has told the Midlothian View that the support for Scotland’s small businesses doesn’t go far enough. To read more, click HERE.
Education
Colleges will receive a funding increase of £70 million while universities will also benefit – with £20 million set aside to combat Dundee University’s recent struggles. There is a big focus on culture, with an overall £20 million budget uplift. This includes £1.25 million for the
redevelopment of the King’s Theatre in Edinburgh. The National Galleries of Scotland will also benefit and receive £11.7 million in funding.
Jobs
Job cuts are a central aspect of the budget – but they are not mentioned explicitly. Instead, they are phrased as “public sector efficiencies” – and the budget proposes a staggering £1.5 billion worth of these. The thought process is that the public sector itself needs to be smaller, and while frontline positions will be prioritised, back office, corporate services and health boards could be at risk.
In Shona Robison’s STV interview with Colin Mackay, the finance secretary is hesitant to put a number on how many jobs exactly will be cut – but eventually settles on around 11,000. Robison proposes that these will happen through “natural attrition”.
Effectively, this means that the gradual reduction of staff will take place as employees leave for general reasons like retirement, resignation, or relocation, and they will purposely not be replaced – allowing the workforce to shrink (somewhat) organically. To still deliver efficient public services – Robison acknowledges that the government may have to turn to automated and digital services, yet it is unclear what this would look like in practice.
Other key takeaways
Islanders on Orkney and Shetland can breathe a sigh of relief as peak fares are being scrapped for the Northern Isles ferry links. £200 million has been allocated for the next phase of the dualling of the A9 and for “key sections” on the A96.
Work on a train station at Winchburgh, West Lothian, will go ahead – improving connectivity for residents and promoting overall economic growth in the area.
For international travel, the government will implement an airport departure tax from April 2027 and plan to bring in a tax on private jets.
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