Scottish Welfare Fund statutory guidance amendments - April 2026: equality impact assessment

Screening

1.1 Policy Aim

• The Scottish Government commissioned an Independent Review of the Scottish Welfare Fund (SWF) to ensure that it works as well as possible in all parts of the country and that the fund is safeguarded for the future.^[1]
• The Review published at the end of March 2023. In response to this, Scottish Ministers committed to deliver an Action Plan to make improvements to the SWF after a decade in place.
• The SWF Action Plan published on 30 June 2023.^[2] Informed by the evidence within the Independent Review, this Action Plan was developed collaboratively with a Policy Advisory Group. Members of the Group included representatives from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA), the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO), local authority delivery partners, third sector groups and public body organisations. The Group’s input ensured robust and expert oversight of the 22 actions featured within the Plan.
• Following the completion of the Action Plan, the Scottish Government committed to review and update the SWF statutory guidance on an annual basis. As set out in the Action Plan, updates and improvements to the statutory guidance in April 2025 focused on making the guidance clearer, improving its accessibility. Changes also included reviewing key areas of the guidance, such as the income thresholds used to determine eligibility, the process for gathering supporting information and the methodology to calculate the cost of living award rates for Crisis Grants.
• Continuing to ensure that the statutory guidance is clear and accessible to those who use it, we are making some further improvements in April 2026. These changes will include updating the low-income threshold tables that are used to determine initial eligibility under low income for 2026/27 to include a separate rate for those without housing costs and also further clarifying the guidance regarding applications received from people who are homeless. The proposed changes follow conversations with local authorities through our regular Practitioners’ Forum, as well as meetings with stakeholders such as the British Red Cross, Royal British Legion, Poppy Scotland and the SPSO.
• Our standing Statutory Guidance Review Committee was established in 2024 to help guide and develop proposals around the updates for the statutory guidance published in April 2025 and has continued for this revised guidance. The Committee is made up of multiple stakeholders such as the SPSO, CoSLA, local authority representatives, Scottish Prison Service (SPS) and third sector representation from Citizens Advice Scotland and the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG). To ensure the lived experience of people who have experienced poverty is taken into account, the Scottish Government also engaged with the Poverty Alliance ‘Get Heard Scotland’ panel.
• The updated statutory guidance is due to be published on 25 March 2026 and will take effect on 1 April 2026.

1.2 Who will it affect, and how?

• The changes that are being made to the statutory guidance are to ensure that it is clearer, easier to understand and more accessible for everyone; including local authority decision makers and members of the public.
• These changes were proposed in order to make the application process easier for people who apply to the fund and also to better assist local authority decision makers.
• While the changes to the statutory guidance are not designed to target specific population groups, they have the potential to impact different areas of society, including people with protected characteristics and those faced with socio-economic disadvantage. This is due to factors such as low income, area deprivation and socio-economic background.
• Clearer, more accessible guidance for decision makers and applicants could have a positive impact for those with protected characteristics. This is because people may be more likely to apply to this discretionary grant scheme if the guidance is clearer and more accessible to all.
• These changes will affect local authority decision makers too, as they use the information located in the statutory guidance during the application process to determine awards. We have updated the statutory guidance this year to highlight that local authority decision makers should not use social media sites to gather information about an applicant. Such changes to the guidance could help them make more informed decisions which could potentially benefit a greater amount of people.
• For example, the low-income threshold tables for 2026/27 will be revised to include rates for those without housing costs, based on local authority feedback. Those without housing costs will usually have lower expenses and this change will create a fairer approach.
• Following discussion with the British Red Cross, additional text has been added to the list of factors that might increase the vulnerability of an applicant to include people with family reunion visa status. Additionally, where certain capital assets should be disregarded, we have provided more information under ‘amounts earmarked for special purposes’ to include visa costs to reunite a family.
• Wording to clarify the exclusions listed under annex A has been added. Local authorities had queried whether certain medical items that were not funded by the NHS or other public funding could be provided. As such, we have highlighted that where it is clear there is no public funding available for a medical item, a local authority can use their wide discretion to make an award for such an item.
• Following consultation with stakeholders, the new Care Leaver Payment is listed as a payment that should be disregarded when calculating income and additional wording is added to ensure Service Invaliding Pension and Service Attributable Pension payments are disregarded when calculating income and that Armed Forces Compensation Scheme Guaranteed Income Payments are also considered for disregard by the decision maker.
• Further wording has also been added to address the fact that applicants who are placed in hotel accommodation are often awarded the ‘non-householder’ rate, despite the likelihood of them having higher costs due to the lack of access to cooking facilities. Additionally, those sleeping rough also face higher costs than those with access to accommodation. New wording will highlight these scenarios in the guidance to ensure they are taken into account by local authorities when processing an award.
• The SPSO provided feedback on our proposed changes and offered some of their own suggestions. These have been included in the updated guidance and focused on:
  • Additional wording to create a more flexible approach that takes into account the increased costs homeless applicants may face, for example, due to the lack of access to cooking facilities in temporary accommodation.
  • Clarification of wording to ensure that where someone has funds saved for a specific purpose, such as family reunion or essential repairs, this is not considered capital.
  • Greater clarity around which local authority is responsible for SWF awards when an applicant is homeless.
  • Additional wording in various sections to ensure that decision makers are not only considering the direct circumstances of an applicant, but those of others in the household including children.

1.3 What might prevent the desired outcomes being achieved?

• Achieving the desired outcomes will be dependent on all stakeholders and parties involved in delivery, such as local authorities who administer the SWF, ensuring delivery is in line with the contents of the statutory guidance.
• To mitigate any risk, we have established a SWF Practitioners’ Forum and a standing Statutory Guidance Review Committee to work closely with key stakeholders to develop the content and the changes to the statutory guidance.
• As well as the standing Statutory Guidance Review Committee, which has worked closely in the proposals contained within the statutory guidance, we will also share outline proposals with the Practitioners’ Forum. We will also use these forums to ensure effective implementation of the guidance and work with partners to ensure local authorities are well supported.
• This will significantly reduce any risk that could prevent the aims of our proposal from being achieved.