Wednesday August 30th 2023
Council leader Kelly Parry (seated left) on a visit to Loanhead Library Warm and Well Hub.
Welfare funds set up to help people through the cost of living crisis by Scottish Government are running out of money, councils have warned.
Funding provided to local authorities to oversee crisis grants for their residents are under pressure with warnings some councils will have to restrict eligibility or close the funds before the end of the financial year.
Midlothian councillors this week agreed to divert £395,000 additional cash from its Covid Recovery budget into its Scottish Welfare Fund (SWF) after being told it would close by Christmas without extra help.
And council leader Kelly Parry told elected members people were facing a ‘really difficult winter’.
Supporting a report from officers which asked for £200,000 to be added the the SWF, a further £195,000 to be invested in a specialist SWF team to tackle the backlog of current applications for help and £140,000 for local community projects, she said a meeting of council leaders last week called for more funds from the government.
She said: “I think it is fair and frank to say all councils in Scotland are feeling the pinch and I absolutely supported calls to ask the Scottish Government for more funding for the Scottish Welfare Fund at Cosla leaders on Friday.
“That being said, it is right that we as a council take responsibility for our own residents and make sure we can, where possible, and I know it is difficult, use our own resources to try and help people over the winter and try and help our partner organisations trying to help people as well.
“It is going to be a really difficult winter.”
East Lothian Council this week became the first local authority in Scotland to restrict the criteria for people applying to the Scottish Welfare Fund.
Sarah Fortune, East Lothian’s executive director of council resources, said that between April and June 54% of this year’s funds had been spent and future applications would require to have a an ‘immediate and extremely severe’ need.
She told a meeting of East Lothian Council: “We are the first council to have made this financial move but have been told the Scottish Government anticipates other local authorities will make this move as well.”
And a report to Midlothian councillors this week revealed that funding from Scottish Government for its SWF this year was the same as last year at £528,000 but last year it handed out over £990,000 with additional council funding.
Their report said: “If no additional funding is made available, the council would have to move to a higher criteria in which to award grants, which would lead to more refusals and potentially the closure of the fund prior to the end of the financial year.”
Councillor Derek Milligan put forward an amendment during Midlothian Council’s meeting to add the higher amount of £395,000 into the SWF and find alternative funding for the pilot team project after being told more money was available.
Councillor Milligan said: “There is uncommitted Covid money still there that we might need in the future, well I am sorry but that is what we should be using for this training.
“We would move an amendment that the £395,000 be put into the Scottish Welfare Fund, the pilot programme and training to be used for the unallocated Covid reserves and the £140,000 used as per the recommendation.”
Councillor Parry said she had no objections to the amendment after receiving a reassurance from officers it would not delay action needed to tackle the backlog of applications to the fund and it was approved along with the recommendations.
Councillors were told the new team would help relieve pressure on the revenue teams with more than 9,200 applications to the fund creating a five-month delay in other work including new benefit claims and council tax collection.
Councillors also agreed to allocate £140,000 to the Cost of Living Taskforce to distribute to local projects supporting communities.
Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “We will continue to use all the levers available to mitigate the UK Government’s welfare cuts and the cost of living crisis.
“We invest £41m in the Scottish Welfare Fund but we are aware it cannot sustainably continue to cover the damaging impact of UK Government policies.
“The Scottish Government is engaging with East Lothian Council to provide advice and guidance as they transition to the highest priority rating for Community Care Grant applications.
“We will continue to work closely with Local Authorities who are delivering the Scottish Welfare Fund within challenging times.”
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