Fund being used to mitigate against UK government cuts

Tory welfare cuts have cost Scotland £140 million in emergency handouts, offical figures show.

More than 265,000 households received the cash since the creation of the Scottish Welfare Fund in April 2013.

Figures published today show that between April and June of this year councils received 42,005 applications for crisis grants, an increase of 11% on the same quarter the previous year.

The grants help people via crisis grants or community care grants, the latter used to buy household items or living necessities.

The figures also show that 14% of applications were due to delays in benefit payments.

Most applicants requested support for living expenses, including food and essential heating costs.

Social security minister Jeane Freeman said: “It is not acceptable that this type of support covering the basic costs of living is needed by so many people.

“This Welfare Fund recognises the very real hardships that are being endured everyday by families across Scotland and is a lifeline.”

Adam Lang, Shelter’s head of policy, said the increasing amount of people turning to the fund showed the human cost of welfare cuts.

"These funds are a vital lifeline of support for many struggling households and today's figures show once more the human cost to Scotland's housing crisis and the daily struggles faced by thousands of households to keep a roof over their head and simply survive," he said.

"We are very concerned that unless the roll-out of universal credit is halted and fixed, many more households will be forced into crisis, get into arrears and have to depend on the welfare fund."