A report by a committee of MPs said that the spare room subsidy ('bedroom tax') affected those in greatest need, its objectives could be otherwise met, and it should be repealed, with interim protective measures put in place. It said that the discretionary housing payments system was not working well and that it should be replaced by a standard entitlement across the whole of the United Kingdom, with provision for local authorities to exceed the standard level to meet local need.
Source: The Impact of the Bedroom Tax in Scotland: Interim report, Fourth Report (Session 2013–14), HC 288, House of Commons Scottish Affairs Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2013-Dec
A report from a debt advice charity examined levels of debt in Scotland. It said that clients in Scotland had the highest volume of payday lending in the United Kingdom. By June 2013, over 10 per cent of total client debt in Scotland was the result of payday loans, and almost 20 per cent of clients had at least one payday loan. The report said that there had been large increases in priority debt arrears such as rent, mortgage, gas and electricity, particularly in the previous six months. The charity's clients in Scotland also had almost double the United Kingdom average level of council tax arrears in 2012.
Source: Scotland in the Red, StepChange Debt Charity
Links: Report | StepChange press release | CAB Scotland press release
Date: 2013-Nov
A study found that the top one per cent of income earners in Scotland had increased their income at a greater rate than others in the past decade, but once taxes and benefits were taken into account, overall household income inequality in Scotland had not increased substantially since the mid-1990s. The report attributed this to the United Kingdom tax and benefit system, and considered the wider aspects and implications of inequality in the context of Scottish independence.
Source: David Bell and David Eiser, Inequality in Scotland: Trends, drivers, and implications for the independence debate, Stirling Management School, University of Stirling
Links: Report | University of Stirling press release | Scotsman report
Date: 2013-Nov
A paper examined whether Scotland would set a different poverty standard to the rest of the United Kingdom. It said that public views of necessities were similar in Scotland, which suggested that it was appropriate to use a single standard for the whole of the United Kingdom.
Source: Maria Gannon and Nick Bailey, Attitudes to the Necessities of Life in Scotland: Can a UK poverty standard be applied in Scotland?, Working paper: analysis series No. 5, PSE UK
Date: 2013-Nov
A report examined the experience of financial stress and its relationship to mental health and well-being among residents of deprived areas in Glasgow, Scotland. The study found that, in general, affordability problems eased for households over the period of study, particularly housing costs, but that fuel costs became more problematic. However, within that general pattern, some groups faced particularly high affordability problems, or a worsening of affordability difficulties. The report also noted that increased affordability difficulties was associated with a worsening of mental health for the householder.
Source: Angela Curl and Ade Kearns, Financial Stress and Mental Wellbeing in an Age of Austerity: Evidence from the GoWell surveys 2006-2011, GoWell
Links: Report | GoWell press release
Date: 2013-Oct
A report by a committee of MSPs examined the 'bedroom tax' in Scotland. The report noted that, in practice, there was a variation in response from different housing providers and the impact varied across location. Early figures suggested that people were not moving. The report noted the complexities still to arise from the further implementation of benefit reforms, including universal credit. It recommended further data collection and better understanding of rent arrears. It also noted the importance of continuing access to Discretionary Housing Payments and financial inclusion measures.
Source: The Bedroom Tax in Scotland, Fifth Report 2013, SP Paper 409, Scottish Parliament Welfare Reform Committee
Links: Report | Scottish Parliament press release
Date: 2013-Oct
A report highlighted health inequalities in Scotland. The report noted that there was a need to address underlying differences in income, wealth and power.
Source: Sonia Scott, Esther Curnock, Rory Mitchell, Mark Robinson, Martin Taulbut, Elaine Tod, and Gerry McCartney, What Would it Take to Eradicate Health Inequalities? Testing the fundamental causes theory of health inequalities in Scotland, NHS Health Scotland
Links: Report | NHS Health Scotland press release | BBC report
Date: 2013-Oct
A report examined the nature and extent of in-work poverty in Scotland and its implications for health. It noted fundamental shifts in patterns of work and a need to move away from dichotomous perspectives of 'employment or unemployment', 'employment or poverty' and 'employment or welfare dependency'. The implications of these changes were generally negative, with a detrimental impact on mental health and well-being. This would be compounded by changes to the United Kingdom welfare system, the resulting increased poverty rates and widened health inequalities. The report recommended a policy focus on the health impact of welfare reforms and further, more robust research on the dynamics of poverty and its impact on health.
Source: Chris Harkins and James Egan, The Rise of In-Work Poverty and the Changing Nature of Poverty and Work in Scotland: What are the implications for population health?, Glasgow Centre for Population Health
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Oct
A paper examined different understandings of the emotional role played by activist or 'grass-roots' participants for those involved in policy-making, drawing on findings from a study of anti-poverty forums in Scotland.
Source: Rosie Anderson, Doing Emotion, Doing Policy: The emotional role of grassroots community activists in poverty policy-making, Working Paper 96, Third Sector Research Centre
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-Aug
A think-tank briefing said that independence for Scotland – or the devolution of benefits policy and spending to the Scottish Government – would provide Scotland with an opportunity to make reforms to its benefits system, and in the process, reassess some aspects of existing United Kingdom policy. But any major redesign of the system would require Scotland to either increase spending on benefits or create large numbers of losers.
Source: David Phillips, Government Spending on Benefits and State Pensions in Scotland: Current Patterns and Future Issues, Briefing Note 139, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Links: Briefing Note | IFS press release | Scottish Government press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Inside Housing report | Public Finance report
Date: 2013-Jul
The Scottish Government published a plan to tackle fuel poverty and reduce Scotland s carbon footprint by improving the energy efficiency of housing.
Source: Scotland s Sustainable Housing Strategy, Scottish Government
Links: Plan | Scottish Government press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2013-Jun
A report said that disabled people in Scotland were going without essentials such as food, heating, and clothes to make up for the loss in their income caused by the 'bedroom tax'. Almost one-quarter of disabled people who took part in the research said that their housing benefit would be cut as a result of the new cap on the amount of housing benefit a person could receive if they were deemed to have a 'spare' room.
Source: Squeezed Out: Counting the real cost of the bedroom tax, Capability Scotland
Links: Report | Capability Scotland press release | SNP press release | Daily Record report
Date: 2013-Jun
A report said that the existing economic model trapped too many people in Scotland in a cycle of economic hardship. Allocating resources in a more effective and sustainable way could deliver lasting change. The report made a series of recommendations, including:
• Creating a better way of measuring collective prosperity.
• Creating a poverty commissioner to ensure that spending decisions were poverty-proofed, and to support communities in challenging government policies and private sector actions that did not contribute to socio-economic equality.
• Requiring employers in the public and private sectors to pay a living wage.
• Cracking down on tax evasion.
• A 'sustainable livelihoods' approach to social protection.
• Funding to make it easier for deprived communities to own assets for local benefit.
Source: Katherine Trebeck (with Francis Stuart), Our Economy: Towards a new prosperity, Oxfam GB
Links: Report | Oxfam press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2013-Jun
The report of an expert working group examined the Scottish Government's plans for the benefits system in an independent Scotland. It said that an independent Scotland would be heavily dependent on the United Kingdom system until at least 2019, and would face sharing services into the 2020s.
Source: The Expert Working Group on Welfare: May 2013 Report, Scottish Government
Links: Report | Scottish Government press release | Scotland Office press release | SNP press release | Guardian report | Public Finance report
Date: 2013-Jun
A report compared early years and childhood experiences in Scotland and England. It considered social and material circumstances; dysfunctional households; maternal and child health; and parenting. Little evidence was found of differences that could explain the relatively poor health status of people in Scotland.
Source: Martin Taulbut and David Walsh, Poverty, Parenting and Poor Health: Comparing early years experiences in Scotland, England and three city regions, Glasgow Centre for Population Health
Links: Report
Date: 2013-May
A study examined whether the way in which deprived and affluent areas were distributed across the city of Glasgow (Scotland), compared with English cities, might adversely affect the health of Glasgow's population. It was concluded that although spatial patterning might have a small influence on neighbourhood mortality rates, it did not explain differences between Glasgow and other cities. The most significant explanatory variable was deprivation, although the relationship between deprivation and mortality rates was different in the three cities.
Source: Mark Livingston, David Walsh, Bruce Whyte, and Nick Bailey, Investigating the Impact of the Spatial Distribution of Deprivation on Health Outcomes, Glasgow Centre for Population Health
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Apr
Research commissioned by a committee of MSPs found that people in the most deprived areas in Scotland would suffer the biggest financial losses when the coalition government's reforms to tax credits and benefits came into effect. The biggest losses would arise from reforms to incapacity benefit (£500 million per year), tax credits (£300 million) and the 1 per cent up-rating limit for most working-age benefits (£290 million).
Source: The Impact of Welfare Reform on Scotland, 2nd Report 2013, SP Paper 303, Scottish Parliament Welfare Reform Committee
Links: Report | Scottish Parliament press release | CAS press release | SNP press release | BBC report
Notes: The report reproduced the findings of research carried out by Christina Beatty and Steve Fothergill of the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research (Sheffield Hallam University)
See also: Christina Beatty and Steve Fothergill , Hitting the Poorest Places Hardest: The local and regional impact of welfare reform, Centre for Regional, Economic and Social Research (Sheffield Hallam University
Date: 2013-Apr
A series of papers examined the future options for policies on social welfare and social security in Scotland in the context of constitutional change.
Source: David Bell, Social Protection in Scotland, David Hume Institute | Jeremy Purvis, Improving Social Outcomes in Scotland: Devo Plus proposals for welfare devolution and reform, David Hume Institute | Derek Birrell and Ann Marie Gray, Devolution, Parity and Welfare Reform in Northern Ireland, David Hume Institute | Nicola McEwen, Independence and the Territorial Politics of Welfare, David Hume Institute | Ailsa McKay, Welfare to Work or a Welfare System that Works? Arguing for a citizens basic income in a new Scotland, David Hume Institute
Links: Paper (Bell) | Paper (Purvis) | Paper (Birrell) | Paper (McEwen) | Paper (McKay)
Date: 2013-Feb
A report examined evidence on approaches to child poverty in Denmark, the United States of America, and Scotland. It looked at how each country had conceptualized the problem of child poverty, and the strategies that they had used to prevent or reduce it.
Source: Becky Fauth, Rachel Blades, and Chloe Gill, Child Poverty Outcomes Models: An international review, National Children s Bureau
Links: Report | Scotland case study
Date: 2013-Feb
A study examined lone parents' experiences of living on a low income in a rural community in Scotland. A number of factors contributed to well-being: but underpinning many issues was that of low income. Lone parents spoke of the problems of stress associated with dealing with financial problems. This was compounded by fears about the impact of welfare changes, and the rising costs of food and fuel. Some parents skipped meals to ensure that their children did not go without. Access to employment and employability services was hampered by a range of barriers including childcare, transport, and digital exclusion.
Source: Fiona McHardy, Surviving Poverty – The Impact of Lone Parenthood, Poverty Alliance
Links: Report | Poverty Alliance press release
Date: 2013-Jan
An annual monitoring report examined poverty and social exclusion in Scotland. Since 2008, the number of people aged under 25 who were unemployed had almost doubled to 90,000. Among those without dependent children, there had been a rise in the number living in low-income working families from 125,000 to 150,000. The number of people working part time, and who wanted a full-time job, had risen from 70,000 in 2008 to 120,000 in 2012. A boy born in the most deprived 10 per cent of areas had a life expectancy of 68, eight years below the national average and 14 years below that of boys born in the least deprived areas.
Source: Hannah Aldridge, Peter Kenway, and Tom MacInnes, Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion in Scotland 2013, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Links: Report | JRF press release | CAS press release
Date: 2013-Jan
A study examined how the recession was affecting disadvantaged communities in Scotland. It highlighted the degeneration of the physical environment and facilities, with a direct toll on the confidence and behaviour of residents and investors; a lack of mobility and the stifling of social and economic opportunities; the erosion of community networks, access, and capacity, and therefore the overall health and well-being of individuals and their communities; and a cumulative sense of economic and political 'abandonment'.
Source: Andy Milne and Derek Rankine, Reality, Resources, Resilience: Regeneration in a recession, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Jan
A report examined the impact of the coalition government's programme of benefits cuts and reforms on Scotland. It highlighted predictions of rising poverty among children and working-age adults by 2020. It called for the creation of a Financial Security Change Fund in Scotland, designed to: integrate existing support for welfare and money advice programmes; boost the capacity of credit unions; and maximize the contribution of the financial services sector and domestic energy suppliers.
Source: Jim McCormick, Welfare in Working Order: Points and principles for the Scottish debate (Part 1: Welfare reform and mitigation in Scotland), Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations
Links: Report | Summary | SCVO press release | Charity Times report
Date: 2013-Jan
A report examined how child poverty was being tackled locally across Scotland. Fewer than half of local council officers felt that child poverty was a political priority in their authority.
Source: John McKendrick and Stephen Sinclair, Local Action to Tackle Child Poverty in Scotland, Save the Children
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Jan
