Scottish Welfare Fund Statistics: update to 31 December 2023

Since the scheme began in April 2013, most funds have been directed to Community Care Grants in almost every quarter, although, even before the advent of the Covid pandemic, there was a general increase in the proportion of money being advanced via Crisis Grants (Chart 14).

Crisis expenditure appears to peak proportionally around December each year. While this may well reflect some real-world pressures, it may also at least partly be due to delays in the processing of Community Care Grants due to reduced capacity at this time of year.

Chart 14: Proportion of SWF spend by scheme – Quarterly