According to a recent report, staff in West Lothian’s Anti-Poverty Service helped people across the county deal with more than £8m of debt in the last year.
It is one of a list of eye-watering figures revealed to councillors, the latest on the Livingston North Local Area committee.
And it shows that while unemployment is relatively low in the county compared to national and UK figures, the number of households sandbagged by debts, and reliant on welfare to support them remains depressingly high.
The number of working households reliant on Universal Credit benefits climbed by almost 200% in a year.
A report to the committee highlighted that the Advice Shop has supported 13,848 customers with support with income maximisation, energy, debt and housing advice in the last year.
This led to:-
- £31,547,311 financial gains through entitlement to social security benefits.
- £529,595 savings secured through energy efficiency advice and access to financial support with energy costs.
- £8,221,802 problem debt handled by debt advisors leading to reduction in debt repayments of £4,205,552.
- 120 potential evictions prevented following advice and court representation to ensure that tenants can remain in their homes.
The North Livingston ward – one of the poorest in the new town- accounted for 9% of all Anti-Poverty Service customers. In this ward almost £2.5m was gained for customers through entitlement to social security benefits.
Energy efficiency savings of £64,364 were won through access to financial support and advice. Debt advisers gave support to deal with £859,137 of problem debt resulting in reduction in debt repayments of £449,656.
Council staff issued 226 emergency food vouchers and 218 fuel vouchers for households at risk of disconnection.
Further details make for a grim picture of the daily lives of thousands in West Lothian. More than 7,000 people claiming Universal Credit are actually in work. This figure is a 167% surge on last year.
Just under a quarter of children- 24.1%- live in poverty. Across the county 18% of households experience fuel poverty, which sits below the wider Scottish average.
A family is considered as being in fuel poverty when more than 10% of its net income (after housing costs are deducted) is required to pay for reasonable fuel needs to maintain a satisfactory heating regime.
Almost 10% of the population is considered as being in extreme field poverty facing costs of more than 20% of their income to pay for heating.
By Stuart Sommerville Local Democracy Reporter
