Debbie Horne, Scotland Policy and Public Affairs Manager at Independent Age said:
“Official statistics show that over the past five years the number of older people applying to the Scottish Welfare Fund (SWF) has increased by 66% (from 4210 older people in 2018/19 to 6975 in 2023/24). While we welcome the Scottish Government’s commitment to raising awareness of the SWF among older people, which will mean more older people in poverty can access the financial support they desperately need the rising number of those in later life applying to the Fund shows there is an unacceptable number of older people struggling to financially stay afloat.
“The SWF can be a vital lifeline for older people who do not have enough to live on, but the fact that 6,975 older people in Scotland are applying to an emergency fund just to afford the essentials is extremely worrying. With 150,000 pensioners in Scotland now living in poverty, a rise of a quarter in the last decade, a long-term strategy to address financial hardship in later life is needed now.
“The Scottish Government must commit to publishing a plan to reduce pensioner poverty across the country in the upcoming Programme for Government. This should include action to reduce household costs and increase awareness and uptake of social security payments, such as the Scottish Welfare Fund, for which older people still only make up 2% of applications despite accounting for one in five of the population. The new UK Government should work across the political divide to ensure that the State Pension and Pension Credit are set an adequate rate, by establishing a cross-party review into the income needed to avoid poverty in later life.”