Policy blog

Report summary In this report SCVO presents third sector perspectives on the impact of welfare reform on the people and communities it supports in Scotland. It is based on research carried out by SCVO during summer 2014. It builds on an earlier SCVO mapping study which reported... Read more

This week the first UK Treasury transparency letters to taxpayers detailing how taxes are spent land on doorsteps. Is this a case of more information or a blatant attempt to gain votes? Read more

Hopefully tonight's Benefits Britain programme will expose the major problems around Universal Credit rather than taking another cheap shot at claimants. Read more

What does last week's referendum result mean for Scottish organisations dealing with the impact of welfare reforms in their communities? Read more

John Downie responds to the second report from the Expert Working Group on Welfare. It’s a strong start, but if we don’t aim for more radical change, we all lose Read more

In a role funded by the Scottish Government, public health practitioner Kate Burton is supporting NHS boards to mitigate the impact of welfare reform on health and the NHS. She is collecting data from advice services on: the number of people you have supported who opt to claim... Read more

The coalition might win the battle but we won’t let them win the war. Read more

Living on benefits can happen to anyone at any time and it should not be frowned upon by anyone. Read more

Being unable to heat your home, being unable to buy food, living with debt – this is the reality that thousands of people wake up to each morning. Read more

Lynn blogs about the need for more compassion and understanding in advance of tonight's Dispatches: Benefits Britain and Benefits Street. Read more

A new pledge sees rivals SNP and Scottish Labour unite against the bedroom tax. Let’s make sure they get it right. Read more

Benefits sanctions might provide a short term fix but they're bad for job seekers and bad for the economy. Read more

Introduction I would first like to say thank you to Sally, who is here tonight with Jamie and Luke, and to Martin Sime for asking me to give this lecture. I am truly honoured. I deeply respected Stephen Maxwell. He had such integrity and a real and serious concern about... Read more

Channel 4's latest documentary adds to the dangerous anti-benefits rhetoric. Read more

The bigger picture A new economy – less dependency Examining the future of welfare in Scotland without understanding why people are dependent on a myriad of benefits and allowances is a mistake. Within the third sector, and more widely, there is a growing call for our economy to... Read more

Do most people really know how their salary compares to the rest of the UK workforce? Probably not, says Jenny Bloomfield. Read more

Following George Osborne’s speech proposing that long-term unemployed people will be forced into community service, John Downie, Director of Public Affairs, SCVO said: “The UK Government must stop this ritual humiliation of unemployed people “The so-called “Help to Work... Read more

Introduction Scotland is in a privileged position as we debate our future as a nation. We have a unique opportunity to debate the kind of society we want to see, and the ways in which we might achieve this vision. The future of welfare and the possibility that Scotland could do... Read more

Overview The impact of welfare reform has been felt across Scotland, and, as research commissioned by the Scottish Parliament’s Welfare Reform Committee shows, the most deprived areas in Scotland will take the biggest financial hit. With the reforms taking more than £1.6bn a year... Read more

Overview This paper is written by one of Scotland’s leading social policy experts Jim McCormick. It examines the impacts of the UK Government’s welfare cuts and reforms. SCVO’s starting point is that the UK coalition Government’s welfare cuts are unmerited and unjust. They are... Read more