Welfare

Eligible families can apply for a Scottish Government grant of at least £120 to help with the cost of school uniforms. The Scottish Government and local authority leaders have reached an agreement to increase the national school clothing grant to a minimum of £120 per eligible primary sc

Social justice secretary Shona Robison has urged eligible young people to apply for Job Start Payment if they are starting a new job after a period of unemployment. Eligible 16-24-year-olds, who have been on certain benefits for six months or more, can apply for the one-off payment worth £252.

The Scottish Greens are calling on the Scottish Government to guarantee full mitigation of the benefit cap. The benefit cap is a UK Government policy that caps the amount of social security a household can receive, regardless of the level of need.

Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) has welcomed encouraging changes from the Scottish Government around adult disability payments, but is urging the government to go further to improve the payment for more disabled people by scrapping the 20 metre rule. The Scottish Government’s response to the co

The UK Parliament’s Scottish Affairs Committee has published its report into welfare policy in Scotland in which MPs have called on the UK Government and Scottish Government to improve information sharing to implement policy and to work together to improve benefit take-up.

HMRC was wrong to refuse a backdated claim for child tax credits for asylum seekers who had been granted refugee status, a judge in the Court of Session has ruled in the first successful social security test case for asylum seekers and tax credits in the UK.

The Children’s Commissioners of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have published a letter they have sent to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions calling for an end to the two-child limit on Universal Credit and Child Tax Credit. In the letter, the Commissioners state that the policy

A new welfare guide has been published on the Highland Council’s website to highlight to people across the Highlands the range of financial support and guidance which is available to them. 

An estimated 78,775 children have already benefitted from Scottish Child Payment since its launch. The benefit, which is unique to Scotland, is intended to help low-income families with the costs of raising a child. It gives qualifying parents and carers £40 every four weeks for each child und

In advance of the Queen’s Speech later today, Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) has called for Universal Credit reform to be a UK Government priority in its legislative agenda.

Edinburgh-based Capital Credit Union has been inundated with hundreds of enquiries after launching an online tool to help people with benefits claims. The credit union launched its benefits calculator after being swamped with calls from members unsure about what they were entitled to claim during th

Local authorities received 121,090 applications for Discretionary Housing Payments from April 2020 to February 2021 and had spent or committed to spend £74.2 million, according to new figures on the Scottish Welfare Fund (SWF). Discretionary Housing Payments are awarded by local authoriti

GP practices in some of Scotland's most deprived communities will receive £3.17 million of Scottish Government funding dedicated to welfare rights advisors to address growing mental health concerns caused by money and housing insecurity. Launching in September 2021, 150 GP Practices will be ab

The new Child Disability Payment will be open in pilot areas for applications from 26 July 2021. Regulations passed mean that families of children with a disability or long-term health condition living in Dundee City, Perth and Kinross and the Western Isles council who need financial support should

Problems with the five-week wait to receive the first Universal Credit payment and sanctions which lead to payments being withdrawn if claimants don’t meet certain conditions have directly contributed towards homelessness in Scotland, a new report has revealed. Analysis from the Scottish Gover