Welfare

West Dunbartonshire residents are being urged to use a range of council supports to make sure they are prepared for the arrival of Universal Credit next month. The new system, brought in by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), means housing benefit, income support, income-based job seekers al

Derek Mackay Finance and economy secretary Derek Mackay has written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to outline the Scottish Government’s “deep concerns” about the impact UK welfare reforms are having on the people of Scotland.

Martin Armstrong As Universal Credit continues to roll out across Scotland’s biggest city, Wheatley chief executive Martin Armstrong explains how the housing, care and property-management group is preparing tenants in Glasgow and beyond for the challenges it presents.

Bob Doris MSP Dundee is to be the focus of a visit by MSPs on the Scottish Parliament’s social security committee investigating the issue of in-work poverty and how the social security system impacts on those in-work but experiencing low income.

Assessments for disability support will be carried out by Social Security Scotland, fully supported by public sector healthcare professionals, the Scottish Government has announced. The move, which ensures there is no private sector involvement in the process, is also set to provide people with grea

Melville welfare benefits advisers Jacquie Mather and Andrew Collinge Melville Housing Association’s award-winning welfare benefits advice service is celebrating another hugely successful year during which it helped struggling tenants access over three quarters of a million pounds while achieving

People begging in Glasgow city centre will be helped to apply for benefits by a new roving digital inclusion officer, the local authority has announced. Equipped with a tablet computer, the new digital specialist will work on the streets alongside the Simon Community Scotland’s Street Team – hel

As CIH Scotland submits evidence to the Scottish Parliament's social security committee, policy and practice manager Ashley Campbell takes a look at some of the current problems with Universal Credit. In 2010 the Coalition Government unveiled plans that would shake the foundations of the welfare sta

Annie Mauger Even the lowest private rents are now out of reach for people on low incomes – putting thousands at increased risk of homelessness, the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) has found.

Shirley-Anne Somerville Another 40 jobs at Scotland’s new social security agency in Dundee will be advertised next week.

A new campaign has been launched after an investigation uncovered routine discrimination by letting agents against tenants on housing benefit. Undercover checks carried out by Shelter working with the National Housing Federation revealed that one in ten letting branches around the UK had a blanket b

CIH vice president Jim Strang CIH Vice President Jim Strang calls on the UK government to reconfirm its commitment to reinstating housing payments for 18-21 year olds.

Kit Malthouse Scottish and UK-wide housing organisations have welcomed a major UK government U-turn on funding for temporary supported housing.

Low-income households are losing out on hundreds of pounds a year because of a failure of the Universal Credit system to indentify how and when to pay claimants, a charity has warned. A report from the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) has identifies a range of problems arising from the rigid system

Graeme Brown Housing and homelessness charity Shelter Scotland has lamented new figures which reveal that nearly 300,000 households have been helped by emergency relief from the Scottish Welfare Fund.