Social Security Experience Panel: Scottish Welfare Fund experiences

Next steps

The findings outlined in this report are being used to inform the annual review of the Scottish Welfare Fund Guidance, which is the guidance issued under the Welfare Funds (Scotland) Act, 2015 to Local Authorities who administrate the funds. The guidance is used by decision makers who process applications.  Issues raised in the survey have been highlighted in this year’s guidance. The findings will also be shared directly with Scottish Welfare Fund teams across Scotland to inform their practice, and with the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman who carries out independent reviews of SWF decisions.

How to access background or source data

The data collected for this social research publication:

☐ are available in more detail through Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics

☐ are available via an alternative route

☒ may be made available on request, subject to consideration of legal and ethical factors. Please contact SocialSecurityExperience@gov.scot for further information. 

☐ cannot be made available by Scottish Government for further analysis as Scottish Government is not the data controller.