Welfare

The Scottish Government and local authorities spent £56 million last year to provide lifeline support and to help mitigate UK Government welfare policies, according to official figures. The annual update of Scottish Welfare Fund Statistics for 2022-23 includes annual statistics on Community Ca

Bield has appointed two new income advice officers to help its tenants navigate the complex process of grant applications. Since joining the organisation at the end of 2022, Scott Alexander and Rebecca Summers have utilised their extensive expertise to drive over £60,000 in savings for te

Improvements to the way crisis support is delivered in Scotland have been set out in a new plan. The Scottish Welfare Fund provides a vital safety net which has paid out more than £380 million in emergency funds to more than half a million households over the last ten years.

A total of £46.9 billion was spent last year on public services to help tackle poverty, deliver fair pay deals, and support people displaced by the war in Ukraine, provisional figures have shown. The 2022-23 Provisional Outturn compares actual spending with the funding commitments set out in t

At a time when unclaimed welfare benefits throughout the UK reached a figure of £18.7 billion, Argyll Community Housing Association’s (ACHA) Welfare Rights team has secured almost £3.8 million for 1,268 households across Argyll and Bute in the last 12 months.

A new report which details the Scottish Government's progress to reduce child poverty has highlighted that too many children in Scotland still don’t have access to the basic essentials, according to IPPR Scotland.

Housing minister Paul McLennan has called on the UK Government to increase in local housing allowance rates (LHA) to avoid a surge in homelessness. Used to calculate Universal Credit payments for private tenants, LHA has been frozen in cash terms since 2020 and the freeze is due to continu

Third sector organisations are to be paid a fee for helping provide supporting information for people applying for Child Disability Payment or Adult Disability Payment, the Scottish Government has announced. The £33.50 fee will be paid when they are asked by Social Security Scotland to complet

The Scottish Child Payment is now being received by the families of more than 300,000 children and young people, according to official statistics. New figures show that 303,000 children were receiving the payment at the end of March.

Iain Hardie explores the impact of the UK’s Universal Credit rollout on housing insecurity, examining research findings that suggest an increase in housing problems and approaches for assistance due to the policy implementation, as well as discussing the key aspects of Universal Credit that c

At least 630,000 families with children have been pushed on to Universal Credit since before the pandemic, new figures from Action for Children suggest.

An estimated 20,000 additional people will become eligible for additional help to buy healthy foods when income thresholds are removed for Best Start Foods payments. The Scottish Government benefit provides help to pregnant women or their partners as well as families with children aged up to three y

Thousands of families of disabled children and young people received an additional £214.10 to help heat their homes this winter, according to the latest official statistics for Child Winter Heating Assistance. More than 26,000 payments worth £5.7 million were made for winter 2022/2023, &

A major new study into the effect of Universal Credit on social housing tenants has revealed the detrimental impact it is having on lives and how it is driving people into debt and poverty.

Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) has called for changes to the childcare element of Universal Credit to be extended to the main element of the benefit.