Tuesday December 2nd 2025
Scottish Borders Council headquarters
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Paul Kelly
The fact that almost four thousand people in the Borders currently in work are having to claim Universal Credit is “horrifying”, an SNP councillor stated today.
Latest statistics for August this year show that 3,992 individuals in employment were receiving the benefit as financial top-up support.
On Tuesday, December 2, at a meeting of Scottish Borders Council’s Executive Committee (Economic Regeneration) members received a largely positive report on employability trends in the region.
The total number of people claiming benefits in the Borders in September 2025 was 1,850, a slight decrease from 1,885 in August.
This includes 340 young people aged 16–24 (down from 355 in August); 1,010 individuals aged 25–49 (down from 1,045) and 500 people aged 50 and over (up from 485).
Council Elaine Thornton-Nicol, the leader of the SNP on SBC, praised the efforts of the council’s Employability Service in supporting people into training, education and employment.
But it was the fact that such a high level of workers were having to have their wages topped up by benefits which alarmed her most.
She said: “What still terrifies the living daylights out of me is that 3,992 individuals in employment are still requiring Universal Credit to take them anywhere near a liveable standard and that is horrifying in the 21st century.”
Members were informed that council officers had met with DWP counterparts to do a “deep dig into the data” around the statistics to understand the reasons for high level of claimants needing benefits.
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