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Scottish government announces additional £350m coronavirus funding for local authorities and charities
An additional £350m is being made available by the Scottish government to councils, charities, businesses and community groups in order to assist those most affected by coronavirus.
The government said the funding is designed to be flexible in order to allow local groups to respond “swiftly and according to local need for people impacted economically or through reduced contact to society”, including homeless people and those living in poverty.
The funding includes £45m for the Scottish Welfare Fund, which makes community grants and crisis grants available to those in immediate need. This is in addition to the £50m being sent to Scottish local authorities as part of the UK government’s Hardship Fund.
A £50m Well-being Fund is being created to help charities and others who require additional capacity to work with at-risk people who may be worst affected by the crisis, including homeless people.
A further £50m will go towards meeting an anticipated increase in applications for the government’s existing Council Tax Reduction Scheme and Scottish social security benefits.
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Meanwhile, a £40m Supporting Communities Fund will be used to fund community efforts to support people at risk, such as homeless people, asylum seekers and older people.
It comes as the Scottish Housing Regulator announced it will be postponing the majority of its regulatory engagements as it moves its focus to monitoring the impact of coronavirus on social landlords.
Yesterday, Scottish housing minister Kevin Stewart said his government is “actively considering” how to prevent landlords from evicting tenants who are unable to pay their rent due the impact of coronavirus.
Scottish housing secretary Aileen Campbell said: “This pandemic will disrupt lives like never before and cause financial hardship and negatively impact on our well-being.
"Be assured, however, that protecting and supporting people during these unparalleled times is the absolute focus of this government.
“Our funding package will be focused on delivery, not bureaucracy or red tape.
"Local authorities, local businesses, community groups and the third sector know and understand the support needs of their communities the best. Where people and organisations have solutions or ideas, I want to hear them.
“Unless we work with local partners the impact of our investment will not be felt by those that need it most. So my message today is: if we can help you to help the people of Scotland then we will.”
