Council’s finance chair wants cash from £1.5m surplus

North Lanarkshire Council’s convener of finance has called on the Scottish Government to make extra money available to residents of the area.

It was revealed last week that the Scottish Welfare Fund – designed to help those most in need of support – was underspent across the country by £1.5million.

That came after a change in the distribution model for the funding, announced by the Scottish Government and CoSLA, meant that North Lanarkshire would receive £400,000 less over the next four years.

Independent figures by the Scottish Government show that not only was there a £1.5 underspend in 2015/16 but underspends of £2m in 2014/15 and £4.4m in 2013/14, the first year of the fund.

Councillor Bob Burrows, convener of finance and customer services, said:“Clearly the allocation system is flawed. It beggars belief that the people of North Lanarkshire will lose out while, nationally, the fund is underspent by nearly £8m over a three-year period.

“You only need to look at the figures, which show that North Lanarkshire was forced to overspend this budget last year to meet demand, to realise that the whole allocation system is ridiculous. If North Lanarkshire Council had received more of that money then we could have helped a lot more people, many of them caught in a poverty trap.

“Some of our communities are the most deprived in the country. It seems obvious that this money, which is the sole responsibility of the Scottish Government in this and future years, should go to people in those communities where need is the greatest. People should not suffer due to a bureaucratic distribution system devised by Scottish Government and CoSLA. If there is money underspent let’s find a system to ensure it goes to people in need.

“That’s why I am writing to Derek Mackay, the cabinet secretary for finance at the Scottish Government, to ask that some of these unspent funds are distributed to those in need in North Lanarkshire.”

Money should go where need is greatest . . .