Scottish Welfare Fund statutory guidance amendments - April 2026: equality impact assessment
Equality impact assessment (EQIA) carried out in relation to the updated statutory guidance for the Scottish Welfare Fund.
Stage 3: Assessing the impacts and identifying opportunities to promote equality
Having considered the data and evidence you have gathered; this section requires you to consider the potential impacts – negative and positive – that your policy might have on each of the protected characteristics. It is important to remember the duty is also a positive one – that we must explore whether the policy offers the opportunity to promote equality and/or foster good relations.
Do you think that the policy impacts on people because of their age?
Eliminating unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation
Impact: None
Reasons for your decision: Our proposals would have no known impact on eliminating unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation for this protected characteristic.
Advancing equality of opportunity
Impact: Positive
Reasons for your decision: Evidence suggests that people aged between 30-39 are the most common applicants to the SWF. Application rates decline steeply until the mid-sixties, at which point they flatten. Clearer, more accessible statutory guidance could help advance equality of opportunity for people based on age. The updated cost methodology and tables within the guidance for decision makers will also mean fairer awards for all age groups.
Promoting good relations among and between different age groups
Impact: None
Reasons for your decision: We do not believe that our proposals would have an impact on relations between different age groups.
Do you think that the policy impacts disabled people?
Eliminating unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation
Impact: None
Reasons for your decision: Our proposals would have no known impact on eliminating unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation for this protected characteristic.
Advancing equality of opportunity
Impact: Positive
Reasons for your decision: The changes that are being made to the statutory guidance to ensure that it is clearer, easier to understand and more accessible for everyone could help advance equality of opportunity for disabled people. Additional wording highlights that, where no public funding exists for a medical item, a local authority can use their discretion to make an award. This may ensure that disabled people get access to the medical items required for independent living. The updated cost methodology and tables within the guidance for decision makers will also mean fairer awards, including for people with disabilities. The new guidance also contains additional wording to ensure that Armed Forces Compensation Scheme Guaranteed Income Payments are considered for disregard and Service Attributable and Service Invaliding Pension payments are disregarded when calculating savings.
Promoting good relations among and between disabled and non-disabled people
Impact: None
Reasons for your decision: We do not believe that our proposals would have an impact on relations among or between disabled and non-disabled people.
Do you think that the policy impacts on men and women in different ways?
Eliminating unlawful discrimination
Impact: None
Reasons for your decision: Our proposals would have no known impact on eliminating unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation for this protected characteristic.
Advancing equality of opportunity
Impact: Positive
Reasons for your decision: Updating the statutory guidance to ensure that it is clearer, easier to understand and more accessible could help advance equality of opportunity for men and women. Additional text has been added to make it clearer that it should not just be the individual applicant’s circumstances, but also their family circumstances that should be considered when making an award. Statistics show that women are more likely to be single parents and this change will further ensure that circumstances factor into a decision to make an award or the amount awarded. The updated cost methodology and tables within the guidance for decision makers will also mean fairer awards for both men and women.
Promoting good relations between men and women
Impact: None
Reasons for your decision: We do not believe the proposed changes will impact relations between men and women.
Do you think that the policy impacts on women because of pregnancy and maternity?
Eliminating unlawful discrimination
Impact: None
Reasons for your decision: Our proposals would have no known impact on eliminating unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation for this protected characteristic.
Advancing equality of opportunity
Impact: Positive
Reasons for your decision: Updating the statutory guidance to ensure that it is clearer, easier to understand and more accessible could help advance equality of opportunity for women on the grounds of their pregnancy and maternity status. For example, additional text has been added to the statutory guidance that makes it clearer that it should not just be the individual applicant’s circumstances, but also their family circumstances that should be considered when making an award, including if there are children in the household and what they may require. The updated cost methodology and tables within the guidance for decision makers will also mean fairer awards for women who are pregnant.
Promoting good relations
Impact: None
Reasons for your decision: We do not believe the proposed changes will affect relations of individuals based on their pregnancy or maternity status.
Do you think your policy impacts on trans people?
Eliminating unlawful discrimination
Impact: None
Reasons for your decision: Our proposals would have no known impact on eliminating unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation for this protected characteristic.
Advancing equality of opportunity
Impact: Positive
Reasons for your decision: The changes that are being made to the statutory guidance to ensure that it is clearer, easier to understand and more accessible could help advance equality of opportunity for people on the grounds of their gender reassignment status. The updated cost methodology and tables within the guidance for decision makers will also mean fairer awards for all.
Promoting good relations
Impact: None
Reasons for your decision: We do not believe the proposed changes will affect relations of individuals based on their gender reassignment status.
Do you think that the policy impacts on people because of their sexual orientation?
Eliminating unlawful discrimination
Impact: Positive
Reasons for your decision: The changes that are being made to the statutory guidance to ensure that it is clearer, easier to understand and more accessible for everyone and could help advance equality of opportunity for people on the grounds of their sexual orientation. The updated cost methodology and tables within the guidance for decision makers will also mean fairer awards for people, regardless of their sexual orientation.
Advancing equality of opportunity
Impact: Positive
Reasons for your decision: The changes that are being made to the statutory guidance to ensure that it is clearer, easier to understand and more accessible for everyone and could help advance equality of opportunity for people on the grounds of their sexual orientation. The updated cost methodology and tables within the guidance for decision makers will also mean fairer awards for people, regardless of their sexual orientation.
Promoting good relations
Impact: None
Reasons for your decision: We do not believe that the proposals would create unlawful discrimination related to an individual’s sexual orientation.
Do you think the policy impacts on people on the grounds of their race?
Eliminating unlawful discrimination
Impact: None
Reasons for your decision: Our proposals would have no known impact on eliminating unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation for this protected characteristic.
Advancing equality of opportunity
Impact: Positive
Reasons for your decision: The changes that are being made to the statutory guidance to ensure that it is clearer, easier to understand and more accessible for everyone and could help advance equality of opportunity for people on the grounds of their race. 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 The updated cost methodology and tables within the guidance for decision makers will also mean fairer awards for all.
Promoting good race relations
Impact: None
Reasons for your decision: We do not believe the proposed changes will have any impact on individuals based on their race.
Do you think the policy impacts on people because of their religion or belief?
Eliminating unlawful discrimination
Impact: None
Reasons for your decision: Our proposals would have no known impact on eliminating unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation for this protected characteristic.
Advancing equality of opportunity
Impact: Positive
Reasons for your decision: The changes that are being made to the statutory guidance to ensure that it is clearer, easier to understand and more accessible for everyone and could help advance equality of opportunity for people on the grounds of their religion or belief. The updated cost methodology and tables within the guidance for decision makers will also mean fairer awards for all.
Promoting good relations
Impact: None
Reasons for your decision: We do not believe the proposed changes will have any impact on individuals based on their religion or belief.
Do you think the policy impacts on people because of their marriage or civil partnership[66]?
Eliminating unlawful discrimination
Impact: None
Reasons for your decision: Our proposals would have no known impact on eliminating unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation for this protected characteristic.
Do you think the policy impacts on people because of their socio-economic background?
Eliminating unlawful discrimination
Impact: Positive
Reasons for your decision: 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. Also, by again providing low income threshold tables for local authorities to use that have been updated, this will ensure that applicants and their family are not disadvantaged when it comes to determining initial eligibility under low income criteria for those not in receipt of qualifying benefits.
Advancing equality of opportunity
Impact: Positive
Reasons for your decision: The changes that are being made to the statutory guidance to ensure that it is clearer, easier to understand and more accessible for everyone could help advance equality of opportunity for people on the grounds of their socio-economic background. The updated low income tables for April 2026 within the guidance for decision makers with a separate non-householder rate will also mean fairer awards for all. An action included in the action plan was to review the cost methodology to calculate the cost of living award rates to make sure they adequately meet the increased cost of goods and services. This included assessing the removal of the under 25 rate of payment and the maximum daily award rate. We updated the cost methodology based on the Universal Credit Essentials Guarantee rates. This was completed in the previous update to the statutory guidance in April 2025 and will continue for this revision, official statistics show that award rates have increased.[67]
Promoting good relations
Impact: None
Reasons for your decision: We do not believe the proposed changes will have any impact on individuals based on their socio-economic background.
Contact
Email: swfqueries@gov.scot