Scottish Welfare Fund Statistics: Annual Update: 2021-22

Age of applicants for SWF Awards

The age of applicants has stayed reasonably steady during the lifetime of the SWF (Table 2 & 3, Charts 17a & 17b). For Community Care Grants, the older age group (25-49) takes up over 60% of applications, and the 'over-49' group take up more than half of the remainder, at over 20%.

For Crisis Grants, a similar pattern exists, with around 70% of all applications from the 25-49 age group, with the over-49s making up around 20% of applications, and the under-25s around 15%.

Generally, it may be assumed that people in the 25-49 group are more likely to have children, and are less likely than older people to have established savings or other resources to cope with difficult circumstances. Conversely, the under-25s may also have these issues, but may be more able to call upon family members to help them.