Welfare

The proportion of claimants receiving their first Universal Credit payment on time has seen “significant” improvements but the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) needs to do more to support vulnerable people and others who struggle to make a claim, according to the National Audit Off

A 37% increase in applications for crisis grants from the Scottish Welfare Fund highlights the need for an extension to the current protections against eviction, according to Shelter Scotland.

Dundee City Council has been awarded an additional £200,000 by the Scottish Government to support tenants who are under financial pressure due to coronavirus. This additional funding is being made available to tenants through Discretionary Housing Payments.

Independent research agency Ipsos MORI is conducting research on behalf of the Scottish Government on the Universal Credit Scottish Choices scheme, which includes an option for tenants on Universal Credit to choose to have their housing cost element paid directly to their landlord.

The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has lost its appeal against an earlier victory for four working single mothers challenging the rigidity of the Universal Credit (UC) system for calculating their earnings.

Children eligible for free school meals will be among those who continue to be supported over the summer through a package of £27.6 million of additional funding from the Scottish Government.

Housing minister Kevin Stewart has written to the UK Government calling for the suspension of the benefit cap and the removal of the spare room subsidy as part of urgent action to support housing tenants affected by the coronavirus pandemic. In a letter to the secretary of state for work and pension

Appointees should be able to collect benefits on behalf of consenting adult claimants but safeguards must be put in place to limit fraud and the exploitation of vulnerable people, according to a Scottish Parliament committee. MSPs on Holyrood’s social security committee have backed a Bill whic

The tenant chair of Glasgow Housing Association has renewed calls for “urgent and radical” change to Universal Credit as the coronavirus crisis continues. Bernadette Hewitt today called on the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to take immediate action on five fronts, including ending

In light of the current coronavirus crisis, Port Glasgow-based firms McLaren Packaging and Interlok Divisions have engaged to help Inverclyde Foodbank provide essential services to the most vulnerable people in the area. Both companies have been matching employee donations and ensuring that Invercly

CIH Scotland has published new proposals as part of an urgent call to action to avoid a potentially disastrous spike in evictions once the current coronavirus protections end. Following measures from the Scottish and UK governments to help tenants keep their homes during the pandemic, the housing ch

An additional £5 million will be made available to local authorities through Discretionary Housing Payments to support tenants under severe financial pressure during the COVID-19 outbreak. The extra funding was announced by housing minister Kevin Stewart during the Stage 3 debate of the emerge

Tenants have praised “brilliant” Wheatley Group staff for “fighting their corner” in helping them with benefit claims.

Projects supporting those most severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic in Edinburgh and the surrounding areas have been awarded funding from the University of Edinburgh. Awards of £5000 – from the University’s Community Grants Scheme – have been made to projects that ai

A 59% increase in applications for crisis grants in Scotland in March shows that low-income families are struggling to cope with the impacts of the coronavirus crisis, social security secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville has said. Monthly Scottish Welfare Fund figures show that crisis grant applic