Scottish Welfare Fund Statistics: annual update 2023-24

During 2023-24, local authorities awarded households a total of £49.9 million in Scottish Welfare Fund grants. More than a third of households receiving an award were families with children, while half were single person households with no children.

In 2023-24, local authorities received 86,020 applications for Community Care Grants (9% fewer than 2022-23) and made 41,460 awards (15% fewer than 2022-23) – an acceptance rate of 47% (four percentage points lower than 2022-23).

Expenditure on Community Care Grant awards totalled £31.4 million, which is 9% less than 2022-23. The average award was £758.

At the same time, local authorities received 259,355 applications for Crisis Grants (11% fewer than 2022-23) and made 160,595 awards (14% fewer than 2022-23); an acceptance rate of 62% (one percentage point lower than 2022-23).

Expenditure on Crisis Grant awards totalled £18.5 million, 13% less than 2022-23. The average award was £115.

In 2023-24, 29% of Community Care Grant applications were repeat applications, marginally lower than in 2022-23, and 73% of Crisis Grant applications were repeats, one percentage point higher than 2022-23.

In 2023-24, 84% of Community Care Grant applications and 96% of Crisis Grant applications were processed within target times.

Local authorities were allocated £35.5 million for Scottish Welfare Fund awards in 2023-24. There was also an estimated underspend of £3.2 million carried forward from 2022-23. Of the estimated total £38.7 million available for awards this year, £49.9 million (129%) was spent by year end. This overspend is two percentage points lower than the one seen in 2022-23 (131%).

We have previously highlighted data quality issues with the official statistics, discrepancies between the official statistics and management information, and quality issues for certain local authorities (described in the data quality section).

Management information to May 2024 has been provided for comparison in Tables 72 and 73, which can differ from the official statistics by a few percentage points. However, the official statistics provide much more detailed information and breakdowns that are not available from the monthly management information and remain the recommended primary source for analysis and commentary.