The funding has enabled the Association’s inclusive communities team to provide support to customers with the appointment of a money and budgeting officer, who will be in position until April 2021.

The service will also be able to offer digital equipment to up to 20 customers allowing them to continue to manage their finances in the longer term.

The fund was open to those offering money advice and is being led by Advice UK. RCH identified that more customers have required advice during the COVID-19 pandemic than ever before. In order to continue to develop this specialist service, an application was made to fund a budgeting and financial capability advice service.

The service will be available to young parents, parents of young families and larger families in line with the Scottish Government’s six priority families.

Heather Mitchell, inclusive communities manager, said: “We’re delighted to receive this grant from Advice UK from the Scottish Government Debt Levy Fund. Being able to appoint Michael and provide this type of support to our customers is important as is the distribution of digital equipment which can help in the long term. We’ve seen an increase in requests for advice during the COVID-19 pandemic and so this fund and appointment will allow us to continue to support as many customers as we can.”