Welfare Fund pays out £56m to help needy Scots – including £12m to buy food

A scheme set up to provide emergency support to households in need paid out £56 million last year – with more than £12 million of payments going to help those struggling to put food on the table.

The Scottish Welfare Fund paid out a record £21,146,679 in crisis grants in 2022-23, with the money going to those in need of emergency assistance.

The total – which was 4% higher than the amount paid out in 2021-22 – included £12,266,799 for food.

A further £3,363,729 was paid out last year to help with essential heating costs – with this the highest annual amount paid out to help with this since the fund was set up in 2013-14.

Community care grants, which can be used to help those who have been homeless, in care, in prison or who are fleeing domestic abuse to live independently, meanwhile amounted to £34,880,395 in 2022-23 – up by 4%.

The amount of cash paid out in crisis grants last year was 263% higher than the total of £5,823,531 paid out in emergency assistance in the fund’s first year.

Councils received 288,880 applications for crisis grants in 2022-23 – 8% more than 2021-22.

Almost two-thirds (65%) of applications were approved, with 186,330 awards made, a rise of 6% from the previous year. The average payment in 2022-23 was £113.

There were also 92,810 applications for community care grants, with this total up by 3% on 2021-22.

Of these, 48,800 were awarded, an acceptance rate of 53%, with the average award being £715.

Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said the figures, published by the Scottish Government, were a “stark illustration of the financial pressures many households are currently facing”.

Ms Somerville said: “UK Government policies are hurting families and forcing us to spend to mitigate the inadequacy of its welfare provision.

“We do not have the powers or budget to mitigate every damaging policy of the UK Government, which is why we have continually urged the UK Government to also take urgent action and match our ambitions to tackle poverty.”

But Scottish Labour’s social security spokesperson Paul O’Kane said action was needed from both the SNP and the Tories.

The Labour MSP said: “The cost-of-living crisis is pushing Scots to crisis point, but both of our governments are posted missing.

“While the SNP and the Tories pass blame back and forth instead of using their powers, more and more people are finding themselves unable to make ends meet without emergency support.

“People cannot keep relying on sticking plasters to survive the economic chaos our two dysfunctional governments have inflicted on this country.

“Labour will take the urgent action needed to help people through this cost-of-living crisis, as well as tackling this problem at its root by building a stronger, fairer economy and boosting wages.”