Scottish Welfare Fund Statistics: update to 30 September 2025

From July to September 2025, 80,560 applications to the Scottish Welfare Fund were received (Table 1). The majority were for Crisis Grants (61,115, Table 3), and a smaller number were for Community Care Grants (19,445, Table 2).

There were 1,235 fewer Community Care Grant applications (-6%) than in the same quarter in 2024 (Table 2, Chart 1). At local authority level the percentage change in applications varied from 29% increase in Moray (from 150 to 195 applications) to a 36% decrease in North Lanarkshire (from 1,480 to 955 applications). Application numbers increased in 8 local authorities, decreased in 23 local authorities, and stayed the same in one.

Compared to the same quarter in 2024, there were 1,175 more Crisis Grant applications (4%) (Table 3, Chart 1). At local authority level the percentage change in applications varied from a 35% increase in East Renfrewshire (from 360 to 485) to a 33% decrease in Dundee (from 1,310 to 880 applications). Crisis Grant applications increased in 22 local authorities, and decreased in 10 local authorities.
 

Chart 1: Applications to the Scottish Welfare Fund – Scotland – Monthly

This chart shows time series of the numbers of applications to the Scottish Welfare Fund per quarter since April 2021, separated into the two schemes.

The most common reason for Community Care Grant applications is ‘Helping

people to stay in the community’ (39% of applications); this has recently taken over from ‘Families facing exceptional pressure’ as the most common reason, although that is due to the reclassification of some applications rather than a clear change in underlying reasons (Table 4, Chart 2).

Chart 2: Reasons for Application – Community Care Grants - Quarterly
This chart shows time series of the proportions of different reasons for applications to the Scottish Welfare Fund per quarter since April 2021.

During July to September 2025, the most common reasons for Crisis Grant applications were different types of emergencies (53,445, 87% of applications), followed by ‘Other’ reasons (7,095, 12% of applications) (Table 6, Chart 3). The ‘Other’ category increased greatly at the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and has persisted at a higher level since, at least partly due to unresolved changes in application processes, although work is underway to address this.

Within the ‘Emergency’ category, the most common reason was ‘benefit/income spent’ (27,730, 45% of applications).

Chart 3: Reasons for Application – Crisis Grants – Quarterly

This chart shows time series of the proportions of different reasons for applications to the Scottish Welfare Fund per quarter since April 2021.