Welfare fund payments to those most in need could be slashed by more than £1m when West Lothian sets its budget next week.
Extra funding that the council has put into the Scottish Welfare Fund is unlikely to be available from April, a meeting of the Corporate Policy and Resources Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel heard this week.
At the same time new figures show that almost half of the 14,000 people in receipt of Universal Credit in West Lothian are working and struggling to make ends meet.
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The Scottish Welfare Fund makes crisis payments to those most in need. It also provides cash to buy appliances such as washing machines or household goods. It is a lifeline for many families living on the brink, with meagre incomes not enough to thrive on but enough to lift them out of full dependence on the state.
In a report to the PDSP, Nahid Hanif, Anti-Poverty Service manager said that West Lothian had put an additional £1, 198,000 into the council Scottish Welfare Fund programme for the county to boost the £1,134, 000 from Holyrood.
The report added: “The Scottish Government budget, published in December 2022, confirms that local authority funding for SWF in 2023/24 will remain at £40.9 million.”
The SWF spend as of December in West Lothian was £644,931 in crisis grants, cash payments made to individuals, and £1,039,087 in community care grants. That expenditure does not include applications received prior to 31 December 2022 that are still to be processed. There are currently 171 Community Care Grants and no Crisis Grants to be assessed.
The report also detailed the climb in the number of people receiving Universal Credit (UC). The council does not administer UC but UC does impact on the administration of those benefits that are administered by local authorities, including the Council Tax Reduction Scheme (CTRS), Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP), and Scottish Welfare Fund (SWF).
West Lothian went live with UC full service on 16 May 2018 and full-service UC is now in place, with a completion date of December 2024 across the UK.
The latest UC Official Statistics published by the DWP state, as at April 2022, a total of 14,956 people in West Lothian are on UC. Of these, 8,969 claimants are not in employment with 5,982 in employment.
Depute leader of the council Councillor Kirsteen Sullivan asked: “We have detailed information on the funding provided and the additional West Lothian programme funding. Can you confirm that funding is from the council’s own funds that it could have otherwise have spent on council services?”
Director of Finance, Donald Forrest replied: “That is correct. Council agreed to allocate the sum for that purpose. From 23/24 onwards the additional funding will not be available so officers will be required to prioritise their local budget from 1st April onwards.”
Councillor Sullivan added: “I think this really shows how local government continues to direct its funds towards the most vulnerable in society where national government has fallen short. West Lothian Council put more of its own money to support people who are really struggling financially than the Scottish Government did in the last year.
“I’m worried given the budget gap and the continued under funding of this council and other councils that we’ll no longer be able to provide this funding. It's clearly very much needed when you look at how much has been accessed. I'd like it to be put on record how much this council has put into the Scottish Welfare Fund which continues to be under funded. And councils will no longer be able to do that.”
SNP group leader Councillor Janet Campbell told the meeting: “I echo Councillor Sullivan’s concern however I feel it's important to highlight today the Scottish Government budget was reduced by almost £2bn due to the effects of inflation caused by decisions taken by Westminster's Tory government which does not know or care how ordinary people are struggling to survive.
"Maybe Councillor Sullivan could tell us what part of the Scottish budget this [funding] could be removed from."
Chairing the meeting council leader Lawrence Fitzpatrick said this was something for the discussion of the budget next week.
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