Added Value

Public provision of services offers excellent value for money. The latest report into Money and Welfare Rights Advice services in Scotland shows that every pound invested in these services gets clients an extra £21-£24. These are significant gains for people who are already on very low incomes.

Not only does this make a significant contribution to clients’ household incomes it also improves their physical and mental health. Increasing their income means they also have money to spend supporting local businesses. So these services benefit the wider economy as well. It is essential that local authorities have sufficient funding to ensure the continued provision of vital service like Money Advice.

Key findings

Local authorities spent £25.76m on welfare and money advice services. This includes 32 services directly provided by authorities and 85 via external organisations. These services are delivered by 486 (FTE) local authority staff, 386(FTE) external staff and 412 (FTE) volunteers. This work not only impacts positively on the finances of service users it also improves their general health and well being. The total financial gain for service users was £624.7m

Who uses these vital services?

• 38% were permanently sick and disabled or suffering a short-term illness or injury
• 25% were in some form of employment while 11% were unemployed and seeking work
• 28% of service users had disposable income of less that £6,000, 55% less than £10,000 and 88% less than £20,000. Median household disposable income in the UK is £27300.40

Money and Welfare Benefits services make a huge contribution to people’s health and well being. This is just one example of vital services which are currently at risk due to cuts to local government budgets. Local authorities need adequate funding to ensure they can deliver the services that citizens need.