Crisis grants money set to dry up in Dumfries and Galloway next year

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Emergency funding that helps struggling Dumfries and Galloway residents survive the cost of living crisis will likely be cut in half next year.Around 8,000 crisis and community care grants have been dished out over the last nine months to help families and individuals heat their homes and put food on the table.This money is available via applications to the Scottish Welfare Fund, which is provided by the Scottish Government and administered by the council’s welfare and benefits department.This year’s cashpot for the region was £1,94 million – 62 percent of which has been spent.

This means that more crisis grants and community care grants will be approved over the remainder of this financial year.However, £1 million of the £1.94 million pot included money that was carried forward from the previous year, along with separate government support funding in relation to the pandemic.That extra cushion will disappear in the next financial year and there will therefore be a vast reduction in the number of emergency grants available.A welfare and benefits update report, due to be tabled at the council’s communities committee next week, reads: “It is anticipated that there will be sufficient funds to meet predicted expenditure up to the end of the 2022/23 financial year.“However, there is unlikely to be any funds available to carry over to 2023/24, given the current demand.“Therefore, as it stands at present, next year’s available budget for the Scottish Welfare Fund is approximately £926,000, the Scottish Government allocation.”A further report is to be brought back to the April 2023 communities committee for councillors to consider ways of managing the grants funding situation.The severe flooding that hit Dumfries last month