Welfare

A coalition of anti-poverty charities is today calling for a significant boost to the Scottish Welfare Fund to protect people in poverty.

Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) has welcomed news that face-to-face social security assessments are to be suspended during the coronavirus outbreak and have called on the UK Government for the change to be made permanent.

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that the UK Government was discriminating against vulnerable victims of domestic violence by reducing their housing benefits.

How to eliminate the five-week wait for a first Universal Credit payment is the subject of an inquiry by the UK work and pensions committee. Announcing the inquiry this week, the committee said the Universal Credit process has a “baked in” the wait for the first payment and many organisa

MSPs have called on the UK and Scottish governments to work more closely together to ensure people get the benefits they are entitled to after a new report found that up to £20 billion of means-tested benefits had been left unclaimed across the UK in 2016-17.

Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) is calling for changes to Universal Credit in today’s UK Budget to ensure people in work can keep more of what they earn. With many workers on Universal Credit losing 63 pence for every pound they earn, the charity has called for a reduction in the taper rate to

Tenants’ union Living Rent has continued its campaign for housing associations in Glasgow to commit to not carry out evictions stemming from debts caused by Universal Credit with the launch of a new charter.

North Lanarkshire Council has established a Universal Credit Assistance Fund to help tenants who find themselves falling into rent arrears due to built-in waiting times for Universal Credit payments to be processed and paid. (from left) Councillor Heather Brannan-McVey, convener of housing and regen

Age Scotland has helped to identify £719,000 in unclaimed benefits for older people.

Benefit claimants are getting less money in real terms than they were when Universal Credit was introduced in 2013, according to calculations made by Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS).

Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) is urging the new Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to use his first budget next month to make key changes to Universal Credit, in order to offer more support for people who are in work.

Shirley-Anne Somerville MSP, cabinet secretary for social security and older people, discusses how the Scottish Government is creating the new infrastructure for a new public service for Scotland. Our new social security system is an important investment in the people of Scotland now and for generat

Over £20 million in payments have been issued in the first year of the Scottish Government's new Best Start Grant, according to new figures.

Following a vote in Parliament yesterday, MPs have agreed to end the benefits freeze and raise benefits in line with inflation.

Scottish Greens have called for the UK Government to end a controversial cap on benefits, as figures showed over 3,364 Scottish families are having their social security entitlements cut.