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.