Scottish Welfare Fund - statutory guidance update: equality impact assessment - April 2025

1. Screening

1.1 Policy Aim

1. The Scottish Government commissioned an Independent Review^[1] 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.

2. The Review published at the end of March 2023^[2]. In response to this, Scottish Ministers committed to deliver an Action Plan to make improvements to the SWF after a decade in place.

3. The SWF Action Plan published on 30 June 2023^[3]. 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 CoSLA, 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.

4. The SWF Action Plan sets out three ambitious workstreams to deliver policy improvements to the SWF. The improvements set out in the action plan include 9 actions relating to updating the Statutory Guidance in order to make it clearer and to improve its accessibility. Actions also relate to reviewing key areas of the guidance such as the income thresholds used to determine eligibility, the process for supporting information gathering and the methodology to calculate the cost of living award rate for Crisis Grants.

5. A standing Statutory Guidance Review Committee was established with a programme of work that ran between March-October 2024 to help guide and develop proposals around these actions. The Committee is made up of multiple stakeholders such as the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (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 on specific actions relating to accessibility of the guidance and ensuring key principles around dignity and respect.

6. The completed statutory guidance updates are due to be completed in April 2025, with a revised document published.

1.2 Who will it affect, and how?

7. 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.

8. These changes were recommended as part of the SWF independent review^[4] in order to make the application process easier for people who apply to the fund and also for local authority decision makers.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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. The changes to the guidance could help them make more informed decisions which could potentially benefit a greater amount of people.

12. For example, a new section regarding a trust-based approach has been included to help develop better relations and break potential assumptions and stereotypes.

13. Additional text has been added to the statutory guidance that refers to children with shared care arrangements. These sections are to highlight further to decision makers that a child may be considered a dependent of both parents and that where a child is dependent on an adult, they would usually be receiving child benefit for the child, but this isn’t always the case. As such, it asks decision makers to be mindful that it might not be possible for parents with part-time caring responsibilities to provide evidence of this and as such, a trust-based approach is encouraged. In line with a trust-based approach, there is wording in the statutory guidance to make sure that evidence that is requested is proportionate and only required if essential.

14. Additional text has also been included to ensure local authorities are making reasonable adjustments for applicants with disabilities to ensure equal access to services.

15. 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 have updated the cost methodology based on the Universal Credit Essentials Guarantee rates.

16. For applicants who are non-householders (for example those who are generally not responsible for rent, mortgage or primary utility bills) the food and non-alcoholic drinks rate of the UC Essentials Guarantee will be used and pro-rated for the respective number of days.

17. For applicants who are liable for rent/mortgage/primary household bill etc or applicants who are without accommodation e.g. sofa surfing or sleeping rough, the food and non-alcoholic + Electricity and gas rates of the UC Essentials Guarantee will be used and pro-rated for the respective number of days.

18. New tables will also be provided in the updated statutory guidance to assist decision makers with determining low income, these thresholds are expected to widen initial eligibility under low income as the rates makes positive assumptions, such as not applying the two child limit, assuming that households take up their full local housing allowance rate and taking away an adult under 25 rate.

19. The Statutory Guidance also highlights local authority requirements when they move to ‘High (most compelling)’ for awards. This details the need for them to impact assess the move to the highest rating to understand the impact from an equalities perspective and how this may impact different groups of people. This ensures that any decision is informed and that there are measures in place to address any negative impact on any groups of applicants.

1.3 What might prevent the desired outcomes being achieved?

20. 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.

21. To mitigate any risk, we have established a 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.

22. As well as the standing Statutory Guidance Review Committee which has worked closely in the proposals contained within the statutory guidance, we have also shared 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 around this.

23. This will significantly reduce any risk that could prevent the aims of our proposal from being achieved.