Scottish Government
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£600,000 for welfare mitigation projects
Fund to help local authorities build innovative public services.
Local authorities will receive help to mitigate the adverse effects of welfare reform through a new £600,000 fund, Welfare Minister Margaret Burgess announced today.
Applications will open on Thursday for the Welfare Reform Resilience Fund, which has been established to make local services stronger and more resilient to the impacts of welfare reform and the broader challenges faced by councils, such as the digitalisation of welfare services and changes to the labour market.
As a result of reforms more than £4.5 billion has been cut from the welfare budget over the five years to 2014-15, £1 billion of which directly affects children. The Child Poverty Action Group suggested that, after housing costs have been taken into account, 100,000 more children in Scotland will be pushed into poverty because of the UK Government’s welfare reforms by 2020.
Local authorities, working with their partners, will have four weeks to apply for the funding which is designed to support innovative projects.
An example of a project previously funded to mitigate the effects of welfare reform is Dundee City Council’s pilot which helps people who are claiming benefits access work opportunities through a personalised Welfare Reform Action Plan.
Mrs Burgess said:
“The Scottish Government has already spent millions mitigating the effects of welfare reform and helped thousands of people across the country, but we cannot rest at that.
“We are determined to put in place preventative measures to stop future generations from feeling the effects of Westminster’s unfair reforms.
“By creating this new resilience fund we are supporting local councils to develop unique and innovative ways of delivering change in their own communities.
“The projects will need to show they can help build resilience in the face of adversity and mitigate the negative impacts of welfare reform.
“Giving more power to public services helps to deal with the challenge of spending cuts and ensures we are making positive changes at a local level which are directly improving people’s lives.
“As set out in Scotland’s Future, with the powers of independence we would take action on taxation, welfare, benefits, scrap the Bedroom Tax and deliver transformational changes to childcare – all of which would have a significant impact on poverty.
“And for people in work and on low incomes, we would ensure that the minimum wage would increase by at least the rate of inflation, helping wages to keep pace with the rising cost of living.”
Notes To Editors
The Welfare Reform Resilience Fund goes live on Thursday 27 March. The applications will be assessed by a panel comprising of the Scottish Government, COSLA and the Improvement Service.
The welfare reform mitigation projects follows funding towards three pilots supported by the Scottish Government, COSLA and the Improvement Service, working with the Department for Work and Pensions.
The three projects include digital services in Aberdeenshire and South Lanarkshire and a triage scheme in Dundee. Interim results between April 2013 and December 2013 revealed a total of 486 customers used the pilot service in Dundee and received a Welfare Reform Action Plan - 219 referrals were made to housing options, 112 referrals were made to employability services and 350 referrals were made to Welfare Rights/ Brooksbank for money and/or debt advice.
The Scottish Government is also providing funding of £200,000 over 2013/14 and 2014/15 to co-fund a welfare reform pilot which will give all Glasgow citizens access to and the ability to use computers.
The Scottish Government last April launched the £33m Scottish Welfare Fund which provides support to the disabled, elderly, lone parents and other vulnerable groups.
It awards money to individuals dealing with emergency situations like a theft or other type of financial crisis, as well as helping people get essential household items to set up or stay in their own homes, rather than be in care. It can also help families facing exceptional pressures, to buy one-off items such as a cooker or washing machine.
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