More families are needing cash handouts
The number of handouts helping struggling Paisley families keep a roof over their heads have shot up by 10 per cent in the past year.
Spiralling Tory cutbacks, including the controversial bedroom tax and the introduction of Universal Credit, haveseen demand for discretionary housing payments in renfrewshire reach record levels.
The number of applications to the fund soared to more than 4,000 individual households in the area seeking financial help between april and september this year, where DHP payments reached £2.1 million.
Grants of an average £ 474 were disbursed to 4.420 struggling households, with Renfrewshire Council shelling out 94 per cent of its allocated funding to help cash-strapped families.
This shows a 10.3 per cent increase on the same period of 2017, where an average of £503 was handed to 3,778 families in the corresponding April to September period, reaching a spend of only £1,901,492.
A leading Paisley politician branded the figures a “disgrace” and said conservative welfare policies have been designed only to “punish the poor.”
Kenny MacLaren, SNP councillor for Paisley North West, said: “Scotland is a rich country. we have a lot of resources including oil revenues. but most of it goes to Westminster and we get very little back, except policies we didn’t vote for, like austerity measures such as the bedroom tax and Universal Credit.
“Universal Credit will make things worse. families are being told they will not get their benefits for five weeks, that is well into January now, so they can forget Christmas.
“The demand for discretionary housing payments is also only increasing pressure on the council to do what it can with limited resources.
“The Scottish government gets its budget from westminster and the council gets its budget from holyrood so their funding is limited.
“This means welfare payments for families are also struggling to keep up with demand. this is a disgrace. these unwelcome policies are designed to punish the poor.”
More than three quarters of Renfrewshire’s DHP budget goes in mitigating the bedroom tax, or “spare room subsidy,” with the council having to make up the shortfall in weekly rent.
Figures released by Scotland’s chief statistician reveal councils made 100,635 DHP awards costing £ 56.9 million between April and September.