Members sitting on the Council’s Communities Committee this week received and agreed a report that provided an update on the impact of the current financial situation.
It detailed that over 5000 benefit administration processes were currently outstanding, although agreed extra resources were agreed a year ago to deal with the additional workload.
Last year, £3.7million was paid to families for free school meals and clothing grants for primary and secondary school children were also administered, totalling nearly £350,000.
Statistics were also given on the Scottish Welfare Fund: as of the end of June this year, 2302 applications were received for a crisis grant for the 2022/23 financial year. This funding is predominantly given to households to pay for food and household fuel and is often a real lifeline to those who are in need.
The Welfare and Housing Options Team have prevented 134 households from progressing to evictions during this financial year.
Councillors also heard that a total of £7.9million has been credited to nearly 53,000 Council Tax accounts, by way of the cost of living payment. The scheme closed earlier this month and a report on the spend will be taken to The Scottish Government by the end of August.
Committee chairman Cllr Archie Dryburgh welcomed the report and said: “The fantastic work of this small and dedicated team is really brought to life in this update report. The facts and stats give a clear indication of now only the amount, but also the volume of financial assistance our council is administering on a weekly basis.”
