Scottish Welfare Fund Statistics: annual update 2023-24

A total of 345,375 applications to the Scottish Welfare Fund were received in 2023-24, an 11% decrease compared to 2022-23 (Table 2). The majority were for Crisis Grants (259,355, Table 6), and the others were for Community Care Grants (86,020, Table 4).

Compared to 2022-23, the number of Community Care Grant applications decreased by 9% (8,445) (Table 4, Chart 1), the first annual decrease since 2017-18. At local authority level this varied from a 29% decrease in Na-h Eileanan Siar to a 16% increase in Perth & Kinross (Table 4).

The number of Crisis Grant applications decreased by 11% (32,220) (Table 6, Chart 1) to the lowest total since 2019-20. At local authority level, this varied from a 31% decrease in Dundee to a 29% increase in Orkney (Table 6).

Applications to the Scottish Welfare Fund have shown numerous peaks in recent years, some associated with peaks in Covid infections, but also correlating with a commonly-seen increase around January.

Chart 1: Applications to the Scottish Welfare Fund – Scotland – Monthly

The most common reason for Community Care Grant applications was ‘Families facing exceptional pressure’ (37% of applications) (Table 8). This reason decreased by 5% compared to 2022-23, and remains ahead of ‘Helping people to stay in the community’ (27% of applications, -11%), the most common reason before 2020-21.

Chart 2: Reasons for Application – Community Care Grants - Quarterly

The most common reasons for Crisis Grant applications are different types of emergency (83% applications in 2023-24), whereas disasters such as fires and floods are less common (fewer than 1% of applications) (Table 11, Chart 3). The ‘Other’ category increased greatly at the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and has persisted at a higher level since, at least partly due to unresolved changes in application processes.

Within the ‘Emergency’ category, the most common reason was ‘benefit/income spent’ (107,825, 42% of applications).
Chart 3: Reasons for Application – Crisis Grants – Quarterly