Homelessness funding: FOI release

Information requested

1. To ask the Scottish Government how much money has been allocated/given towards ending homelessness to City of Edinburgh Southside Churches in:- A. 2019, B. 2020, C. 2021, D. 2022

2. To ask the Scottish Government how much money has been allocated/given towards ending homelessness to City of Edinburgh Council in:- A. 2019, B. 2020, C. 2021, D. 2022

3. To ask the Scottish Government how much money has been allocated/given towards ending homelessness to All City of Edinburgh Charities in:- A. 2020/21, B. 2021/22, C. 2022/23, D. 2023/24

4. To ask the Scottish Government how much money has been left over from previous years spending/s to the Ministerial Department responsible for homelessness or how much in deficit the Department is/was in:- A. 2020/21, B. 2021/22, C. 2022/23, D. 2023/24

Response

1. There is no available information on any funding that Scottish Government has provided to City of Edinburgh Southside Churches towards ending homelessness.

2. The table below sets out the allocations in the financial years 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 to the City of Edinburgh Council towards ending homelessness.

Year	Purpose	Fund	Amount
2019-20	Homelessness response	Ending homelessness together fund	£29,000
	Homelessness response	Ending homelessness together fund	£29,000
	Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan	Ending Homelessness Together fund	£1,005,000
	Homelessness prevention	Discretionary Housing Payments	£6,297,799
		TOTAL	£7,360,799
2020-21	Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan	Ending homelessness together fund	£1,455,000
	Homelessness prevention	Discretionary Housing Payments	£8,243,888
		TOTAL	£9,698,888
2021-22	Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan	Ending Homelessness Together fund	£871,000
	Homelessness prevention	Discretionary Housing Payments	£6,731,281
		TOTAL	£7,602,281
2022-23	Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan	Ending Homelessness Together fund	£772,000
	Homelessness prevention	Discretionary Housing Payments	£7,292,831
		TOTAL	£8,064,831

In addition to these amounts, local authorities in Scotland receive a block grant known as the General Revenue Grant. The Local Government finance funding formula provides a complex but objective assessment of need and uses the most up to date information for the full range of indicators, including population, rurality, deprivation and housing. All indicators are updated every year to ensure each local authority receives its fair share of the available total funding and the distributions are published each year in the Scottish Local Government Finance Green Book.

The Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. As such, the vast majority of funding is provided by means of a block grant. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including on homelessness, on the basis of local needs and priorities. Ultimately, it is for locally elected representatives to make local decisions on how best to deliver services to their local communities.

3. In the financial year 2020-21, the Scottish Government allocated £1,769,645 towards ending homelessness to City of Edinburgh Charities. This figure is made up of: £1,015,751 to Simon Community, £201,500 to Glasgow Night Shelter for Destitute Asylum Seekers for hotel accommodation, £161,700 to Bethany Christian Trust and £29,940 to SAY Women all as part of the Immediate Priorities Fund (IPF) - COVID-19 response for people facing homelessness (lockdown 1); £40,000 to Simon Community Scotland for the Winter Plan for Social Protection - Digital inclusion; £64,454 to Edinburgh Cyrenians for PRS Test and Learn Pilot; £249,300 to Bethany Christian Trust for the Rapid Rehousing Welcome Centre in Edinburgh, and £42,000 to Simon Community Scotland for personalised budgets. Please note, some of this funding was provided as a total amount to be split between service provision in both Glasgow and Edinburgh. Organisations had flexibility to distribute the funds as appropriate between the two cities based on local needs. It is not possible to further split the funding down into funds specifically utilised in Edinburgh and funds specifically utilised in Glasgow.

In the financial year 2021-22 the Scottish Government allocated £534,905 towards ending homelessness to City of Edinburgh Charities. This figure is made up of £78,246 to Edinburgh Cyrenians for PRS Test and Learn Pilot, £365,496 to Bethany Christian Trust and £91,163 to CLAN Childlaw, as part of the Third Sector Homelessness Fund.

In the financial year 2022-23 the Scottish Government allocated £265,313 towards ending homelessness to City of Edinburgh Charities. This figure is made up of £129,994 to Bethany Christian Trust, £35,000 to Simon Community Scotland for personalised budgets and £100,319 to CLAN Childlaw, as part of the Third Sector Homelessness Fund.

In the financial year 2023-24, the Scottish Government allocated £790,840 towards ending homelessness to City of Edinburgh Charities. This figure is made up of £115,807 to Bethany Christian Trust, £70,000 to Simon Community Scotland for personalised budgets, £105,033 to CLAN Childlaw, as part of Homelessness Sector Prevention Fund. £500,000 went to Scottish Women’s Aid to administer the pilot fund to leave in partnership with local women’s aid groups in the five local authority areas with the highest number of homelessness presentations by women due to domestic abuse (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Fife, North Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire).

4. Please note, Discretionary Housing Payment allocations for bedroom tax and benefit cap mitigations (91% of the DHP budget in 2023-24) are based on Scottish Fiscal Commission forecasts,  which may be revised during the financial year. As such, any underspend in these funding streams may reflect that the initial allocation was higher than ultimately required. Scottish local authorities are not permitted to use unspent DHP funds for other purposes, though they have on occasion been permitted to retain unspent funds to use within the DHP scheme in subsequent years.

Data on local authority allocations and spending on Discretionary Housing Payments can be found at Social security: statistics - gov.scot

There has been no other funding for homelessness which has been reported as left over or returned to the Scottish Government.

In 2020-21 the Scottish Government allocated the City of Edinburgh Council £8,243,888 for Discretionary Housing Payments, of which they spent £6,524,959. Therefore, there was £1,718,929 left over from that allocation.

In 2021-22 the Scottish Government allocated the City of Edinburgh Council £6,731,281 for Discretionary Housing Payments, of which they spent £6,665,684. Therefore, there was £65,598 left over from that allocation.

In 2022-23 the Scottish Government allocated the City of Edinburgh Council £7,292,831 for Discretionary Housing Payments, of which they spent £6,802,620. Therefore, there was £490,211 left over from that allocation.

In 2023-24 the Scottish Government allocated the City of Edinburgh Council £6,956,775 for Discretionary Housing Payments, of which they spent £6,930,496. Therefore, there was £26,280 left over from that allocation.

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