Local authorities in Scotland awarded households £12.6 million through the Scottish Welfare Fund between April and June 2026, the first quarter of the 2026-27 financial year.
The fund provides two forms of discretionary support that do not have to be repaid. Crisis Grants are intended for people on a low income facing an emergency or disaster, while Community Care Grants can help people establish or maintain an independent home. The assistance is delivered through local authorities and can take the form of cash, cash-equivalents, vouchers, fuel cards or goods, depending on the need being met.
Community Care Grant activity fell over the quarter when compared with April to June 2025. Local authorities received 18,940 applications, down 4 per cent. They made 9,765 awards, down 8 per cent, and spent £7.0 million, 15 per cent less than in the same period a year earlier.
The pattern was different for Crisis Grants. Applications rose 8 per cent year on year to 66,580. Authorities made 42,605 awards, up 5 per cent, and spent £5.6 million, an 8 per cent increase on the equivalent quarter in 2025. The two grant types therefore accounted for £12.6 million of awards during the three-month period.
The contrast matters because the grants serve different circumstances. A Crisis Grant can help with immediate living costs in an emergency, including food or heating, as well as emergency accommodation, travel or the consequences of a disaster. Community Care Grants can assist with practical one-off costs such as furniture, household equipment, moving expenses or essential connections when someone needs to set up or sustain a home in the community.
The figures also show that 13 per cent of Community Care Grant awards and 65 per cent of Crisis Grant awards were recorded as repeats. Those shares were 2 and 5 percentage points higher respectively than a year earlier. Repeat applications are subject to rules: a local authority does not need to reconsider an application for the same items or services within 28 days where a decision has already been made and circumstances have not materially changed. Crisis Grant awards are normally limited to three in a rolling 12-month period, although exceptions can apply.
Processing remained high against the scheme’s service targets. Ninety-one per cent of Community Care Grant applications and 97 per cent of Crisis Grant applications were processed within target times. The timetable is tighter for a Crisis Grant, where a decision is targeted by the end of the next working day once the necessary information is available. For Community Care Grants, the target is 15 working days after the information needed for a decision has been received.
Local authorities have £35.5 million allocated for Welfare Fund awards in 2026-27, alongside an estimated £5.9 million carried forward from the previous year. That gives an estimated £41.4 million available for awards. The £12.6 million spent in April to June represented 30 per cent of that amount.
The figures are a record of applications, awards and spending rather than a direct count of individuals helped. Joint applications for the two grant types are recorded as separate applications, and support can be provided in several forms rather than solely as a cash payment. They also do not, on their own, establish why Crisis Grant applications rose while Community Care Grant applications fell. What they do show is a quarter in which the two parts of Scotland’s local-authority safety-net scheme moved in different directions, while most applications were dealt with within the stated timescales.
