Question reference: S6W-10245
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 10 August 2022 Registered interest
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Current status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 September 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Home Owners’ Support Fund, what the average processing time has been for (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful applications in each of the last six years, and how many applications in each of the last six years took (i) less than one year (ii) one to two years (iii) two to three years and (iv) more than three years to process.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not collect data in relation to the turnaround of unsuccessful applications. The following table shows the average processing time in months for successful applications during each of the last six years.
Year | Average Processing Time (Months) |
2016-17 | 5 |
2017-18 | 6 |
2018-19 | 9 |
2019-20 | 11 |
2020-21 | 15 |
2021-22 | 20 |
The Home Owners Support Fund is a voluntary scheme and the full co-operation and participation of applicants, social landlords, lenders, solicitors and surveyors is necessary for the smooth and efficient delivery of the scheme. The pandemic made it more difficult to progress cases, particularly as social landlords were unable to visit properties for repairs assessments.
The following table shows the number of successful applications and the timescales, during each of the last six years.
Number of Successful Applications Processed in | ||||
Year | < 1 Year | 1-2 years | 2-3 | > 3 years |
2016-17 | 65 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2017-18 | 39 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2018-19 | 29 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
2019-20 | 21 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
2020-21 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
2021-22 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 0 |