Scottish Welfare Fund Statistics: update to 30 June 2023

From when the Scottish Welfare Fund scheme began on 1 April 2013 until 30 June 2023, 519,890 individual households have received awards totalling £410.0 million. A third of households receiving an award were families with children, while half were single person households with no children.

During April to June 2023, local authorities received 20,820 applications for Community Care Grants, a decrease of 5% compared to April to June 2022. At the same time, local authorities made 11,075 Community Care Grant awards, a decrease of 10%, spending £8.6 million, an increase of 3% compared to April to June 2022. The average award was £781, 15% higher than during April to June 2022. Local authorities received 62,770 Crisis Grant applications in April to June 2023, a 14% decrease compared to April to June 2022. At the same time, local authorities made 39,760 Crisis Grant awards, spending £4.6 million, decreases of 15% and 17% respectively compared to April to June 2022. The average award was £119, 2% higher than during April to June 2022.

During April to June 2023, 30% of Community Care Grant applications and 14% of awards were repeats, unchanged compared to April to June 2022. At the same time, 74% of Crisis Grant applications and 65% of awards were repeats, both three percentage points higher than April to June 2022.

From April to June 2023, 91% of Community Care Grant applications and 93% of Crisis Grant applications were processed within target times.

Local authorities have been allocated £35.5 million for Scottish Welfare Fund awards in 2023/24. There was also an estimated underspend of £3.1 million carried forward from 2022/23. Of the estimated total £38.6 million available for awards this year, £13.2 million (34%) had been spent in the first three months of the financial year.

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 2023 has been provided for comparison in Tables 44 and 45, 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.