Scottish Welfare Fund Statistics: Update to 31 December 2022

Expenditure and budgets

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 to the Scottish Government. These returns 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 management information at Scotland level.

During October to December 2022, £13.4 million was spent through the Scottish Welfare Fund, 2% more (£0.3 million) than the same quarter in 2021 (Table 23, Chart 8). More was spent on Community Care Grants (£8.5 million) than on Crisis Grants (£4.9 million). Compared to the same quarter of 2021, Community Care Grant expenditure was higher in 17 local authorities, while Crisis Grant expenditure increased in 18 local authorities (Table 23).

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

Local authorities have been allocated £35.5 million for Scottish Welfare Fund awards in 2022/23. There was also an estimated underspend of £4.4 million carried forward (see the Data Quality section for issues relating to estimation of underspend). Local authorities had spent £41.4 million by the end of December 2022, representing 104% of the estimated available budget. At this point in the year, if spending were consistent in each quarter we would expect local authorities to have spent 75% of their available budgets. In comparison, by the end of September 2021, local authorities had spent £38.9 million, representing 83% of the available budget, although the budget available for 2021/22 was considerably larger at £47.0 million due to additional Covid-related funding (Table 24, Table 26, Chart 9 and Chart 10).

The lowest percentage of budget spent (including estimated previous underspend) was 21% in Na-h Eileanan Siar. The highest were West Lothian (172%), East Lothian (151%) and Edinburgh City (139%). Twenty-five local authorities had spent at least 75% of their estimated available budgets and therefore may be on track to spend all of their available budget for 2022/23 at current rates of expenditure (Table 26, Chart 9). For data quality issues that affect expenditure during this financial year, see the data quality section.

Chart 9: Proportion of annual budget spent as at 31 December 2022

Chart 10: Cumulative Expenditure on the Scottish Welfare Fund – Monthly

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).