Scottish Welfare Fund: statutory guidance - April 2025

The Scottish Welfare Fund

The Scottish Welfare Fund was established on 1 April 2013 as an essential source of occasional support for those most in need. In Scotland, we can be proud that we have a service like the Scottish Welfare Fund in place to provide a lifeline to people in need. The fund is based on fundamental principles such as respect for and dignity of applicants that require assistance.

Scottish Ministers have issued and published this guidance to assist with the operation of the Scottish Welfare Fund. This guidance is intended for a range of audiences, which includes decision makers who make decisions on award as well as applicants who are in need of further information about the scheme. These first two pages set out some key guidelines to help understand the Fund’s purpose, eligibility, how to apply, what to expect and the right to review.

The fund is delivered by all Scottish local authorities and provides two forms of discretionary awards for those on a low income, who are 16 and over, resident, about to become resident in the local authority or homeless.

• Crisis Grants help meet immediate short term needs when an emergency or a disaster has happened, and there would be a risk to wellbeing without a grant. They are usually for food, gas or electricity but where a disaster has happened, for example a flood, items like cookers and furniture can be provided. Unless exceptional circumstances apply an applicant can only get 3 Crisis Grants in a 12 month period.
• Community Care Grants help people to establish or maintain a settled home. They are only awarded to people facing specific situations including those leaving prison, people who are homeless and receiving tenancy support; and those facing ‘exceptional pressure’ (financial pressure alone does not meet ‘exceptional pressure’). They are normally provided in the form of goods such as cookers, beds, furniture and removal costs.

To apply, you contact your local council, with details available at Scottish Welfare Fund - help with living costs - mygov.scot.

A standing Statutory Guidance Review Committee has been set up for the Scottish Welfare Fund, this committee will review the Statutory Guidance on an annual basis. If you would like to suggest improvements to this guidance, you can do so by contacting: swfqueries@gov.scot

• For Crisis Grants, applicants should receive a decision no later than the end of the next working day. For Community Care Grants, applicants should receive a decision within 15 working days after the local authority has received all the information allowing a decision to be made. A working day is defined as between 9.00 am – 4.45 pm and does not include weekends or bank/public holidays.
• If an applicant is not happy with the decision they can ask someone at the council to look at the decision again, called a review. This will be someone other than the person who made the original decision. An applicant should request this within 20 working days from the date of being notified of that decision. The request should be made in writing, although a council may accept the request in other formats in certain circumstances. Councils aim to deal with Crisis Grant reviews within 2 working days and Community Care Grants reviews within 15 working days. At review they cannot reduce an award or take it away. If after the review decision, an applicant is still not happy they can ask the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman for an Independent Review.
• The fund is a budget limited scheme, there is only so much money available each year, so councils have to manage expenditure and can use priority ratings. Thus, there may be alternative forms of support that can help applicants and discussed in sections 2.13 – 2.26, including benefits delivered by Social Security Scotland Social Security Scotland - Benefits. Your local council should also be able to refer you to other relevant organisations that are local to your area who may be able to provide assistance.
• This statutory guidance is structured in 11 chapters. After an introduction, chapters 2, 3 & 4 discusses the purpose, how funding is managed and the administration of the fund. Chapter 5 & 6 outlines the decision making process and the qualifying conditions/exclusions. Chapters 7 & 8 give more detail around Crisis and Community Care Grants including eligibility. Chapter 9 discusses the first tier review process for those that do not agree with their decision. Chapter 10 outlines the role of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) for Independent Reviews. The final Chapter 11 discusses data monitoring. There are also Annexes included to help with administration of the scheme. While this guidance is comprehensive, it cannot cover all scenarios, decision making should be in line with the key objectives of the fund.