Chamber and committees

In 2021-22, over £14 million has been provided to welfare and debt advice services aligned to Social Justice priorities and to projects in the Justice Programme, including law centres. The value of funding in future financial years will form part of the setting of the overall budget for 2022-23.

The Scottish Government runs a number of funding programmes across all areas of its responsibility, some of which are open to applications from advice agencies and law centres. All funding streams have their own assessment criteria based on the needs of the policy areas with responsibility for the funding programme. Such a varied approach allows for targeted funding that responds to identified policy need. For example, the Investing in Communities Fund, which is anticipated to re-open for applications in April 2022, is a community-focused fund which supports community organisations based in the places they serve to deliver a holistic range of projects and services that help to tackle all forms of poverty and inequalities. Funding for these projects through these programmes is in addition to the figure of £14 million above.

In addition, advice services receive funding from multiple other sources, including Local Authorities, which remain the biggest funders of advice in Scotland. The Common Advice Performance Management Reporting Framework published on 28 January 2021 found that total Local Authority funding for money and welfare rights advice services was just over £28 million in 2019-20, of which £13 million was spent on externally delivered provision including free advice and law centres.