Scottish Welfare Fund Statistics: annual update 2022-2023

Unless otherwise stated, all expenditure information in this publication is based on the date of decision. As such it should be regarded as committed spend, rather than actual spend. Where a case has been reviewed, expenditure is assigned to the quarter of the initial decision rather than the review date. Further discussion of expenditure data quality is included in the Data Quality section of the publication.

Local authorities submit monthly management information returns to the Scottish Government. These returns also contain expenditure information on Community Care Grants and Crisis Grants. Chart 8 shows that expenditure recorded in the quarterly monitoring matches closely with the information in the monthly returns at Scotland level until March 2022.

Chart 8: Expenditure on the Scottish Welfare Fund – Comparison of official statistics and monthly management information – Scotland – Monthly

Between 1 January and 31 March 2023:

£15.2 million was spent through the Scottish Welfare Fund, 2% more than in January to March 2022 when £14.9 million was spent (Table 39, Chart 8). Expenditure on Community Care Grants increased by 10% (£9.6 million compared to £8.7 million) and expenditure on Crisis Grants decreased by 10% (£5.6 million compared to £6.2 million).

The Official Statistics indicate that in March 2023, Scottish Welfare Fund expenditure was 13% lower than in March 2022, with Community Care Grant expenditure 6% lower and Crisis Grant expenditure 25% lower (Chart 8).

During 2022-23:

The available budget for awards in 2022-23 was £42.5 million, which included £35.5 million allocated by Scottish Government, a £2.5 million top-up allocation, and £4.5 million of underspend carried forward from 2021-22 (Table 40). A total of £56.0 million was spent on Scottish Welfare Fund awards during 2022-23 (Table 38), including £34.9 million on Community Care Grants (Table 34) and £21.1 million on Crisis Grants (Table 36). This is an overall increase in expenditure of 4%, with both Community Care Grant and Crisis Grant expenditure increasing by 4% compared to 2021-22.

Expenditure on Community Care Grants increased in 19 local authorities, the greatest relative increase being in Scottish Borders (37% increase, Table 34). Expenditure decreased in 13 local authorities, the greatest relative decrease occurring in Shetland (36% decrease). Expenditure on Crisis Grants increased in 25 local authorities, the greatest relative increase being in Shetland (67%, Table 36). Expenditure decreased in 7 local authorities, with the greatest relative decrease in Highland (50% decrease).

Average award value for Community Care Grants increased from £689 in 2021-22 to £715 in 2022-23. The average award value for Crisis Grants decreased from £115 in 2021-22 to £113 in 2022-23.

Expenditure compared to budget:

As a whole, local authorities spent 132% of the available budget (the amount allocated by Scottish Government plus underspend from previous years) (Table 42, Chart 9). In comparison, at the end of 2021-22 114% of the available budget had been spent, although the budget available for the Scottish Welfare Fund in 2021-22 was £4.6 million higher than in 2022-23 (Table 40, Table 42).

Expenditure varied considerably between the local authorities. Only six local authorities spent less than 90% of their budgets in 2022-23 compared to eight in 2021-22, showing the continuing pressure on budgets during 2022-23. The local authorities that had spent the smallest proportions of their budgets were Na-h Eileanan Siar (27%), Highland (44%) and North Ayrshire (64%). Collective underspend for the year was £3.2 million, which is £1.3 million less than at the end of 2021-22. (Table 40).

Twenty-six local authorities spent more than their budget (Table 42, Chart 9): West Lothian (204%), East Lothian (191%), Perth and Kinross (177%), and Edinburgh City (175%), all spent more than 175% of their budget. In total local authorities overspent their available budgets for 2022-23 by around £16.7 million, £5.5 million more than the overspend for 2021-22 (£11.2 million, Table 40).

Chart 9: Proportion of 2022-23 budget spent as at 31 March 2023

Chart 10 indicates that the overspend was broadly steady throughout the year.

Chart 10: Cumulative expenditure on the Scottish Welfare Fund – Monthly – 2022-23

Family Reunion Crisis Grants:

Delivery of Family Reunion Crisis Grants commenced on 14 May 2018. The grants support refugee families arriving in Scotland under family reunion rules to settle with their family member already resident in the local authority area. Applicants can apply for both Crisis Grants and Community Care Grants through this scheme. Based on management information supplied to Scottish Government by local authorities, these grants have amounted to around £333,765.19 from 14 May 2018 to 31 December 2022.

Self-Isolation Support Grants:

Delivery of Self-Isolation Support Grants commenced on 12 October 2020, and closed on 5 January 2023. The grant was a payment available for low-income workers who were asked to self-isolate because of coronavirus (COVID-19) and would lose income as a result. Payments were originally for £500 before being reduced to £225, then increased to £250. Self-Isolation Support Grants were made either as Crisis Grants or as discretionary grants for individuals with no recourse to public funds (NRPF). The local authorities administer the grant and supply management information to Scottish Government. By the end of February 2023, local authorities had awarded around 151,020 Self-Isolation Support Grants, totalling £73.2 million (Table 46). This is close to the final total for the scheme now that it has closed. Comparisons should not be made between the numbers of applications received by local authorities, due to variations in the administrative systems used to apply for the grant (see Background notes).