Public Service Reform

by David Hilferty, CAS Director of Impact.

This article was first published in The Herald on 20 June 2026.

Public service reform is fast becoming one of the defining themes of the new Scottish Parliament. 

A new Cabinet Secretary is in place with a dedicated portfolio and tasked with delivering on last year's Public Service Reform strategy – it’s clear there is renewed focus on effectiveness, efficiency and prevention. The debate is gathering real pace. 

Yet amid the burgeoning discussion of reform, there is a question that cannot be overlooked: what happens when public institutions themselves become the origination of harm? 

Public services exist to provide the essential support we all rely on. But for many, interactions with public bodies can also leave a different legacy – one measured not in improved outcomes, but in debt. Because public institutions can deepen financial hardship for the people they’re meant to serve. 

People across our sector talk about this as public debt. That isn’t sovereign debt or government borrowing. 

When we say public debt, we’re talking about arrears owed to public bodies – such as Council Tax, rent, or deductions to social security 

And public debt happens when public systems fail. 

On debt more broadly, it is essential that the language we use to describe people’s circumstances catches up with the reality.  

The worn-out images you see on news websites of stock models fretting over bills with an old school calculator on the table.  

The reality is way more pernicious than that.  

It’s people getting into debt to live. To survive. 

And it’s not only public debt like Council Tax or social security overpayments.  

Average debt within Scotland’s private rented sector is £4,000 – double that of social tenants incidentally. Another failing system. 

And turning to failing markets, average debt we see on energy is around £2,500. 

That is debt accumulated just to meet the essentials that all of us need. Locking people in poverty. 

A challenge we hold ourselves to is to highlight problems, yes, but to be clear on solutions.  

In these pages, we have been clear in setting out what the Scottish Government needs to do on public debt, including reform of Council Tax Debt collection.  

Again, public debt happens when systems fail. 

And from the perspective of our network, systemic failure is exemplified by people who keep coming back to our essential frontline services.

As the system keeps throwing the same people into crisis year after year. 

Of those advised on Council Tax during 2025, one-in-five had received the same advice at least once in the previous five years.  

Debt is not neatly encapsulated within a single year – it is persistent and intractable. 

A colleague recently shared with me Fiona’s experience. First presenting in 2019, Council Tax arrears doubling by 2021, still struggling through to late 2023.  

But a last word on this – and one that we should never lose sight of – is the outcomes the Citizens Advice network delivers.  

Council Tax arrears are now way down at £100. Annual income up £9,000. 

Genuinely life-changing outcomes and interventions. 

But it shouldn’t have to be this hard.  

So as public service reform rightly gains prominence, let’s make sure it delivers what it promises: systems that are inherently preventative, and stops debt before it starts.