West Lothian’s Anti-Poverty service is strengthening ties across and outside local government to improve lives of those living on the fringes of the county.
Villages around Fauldhouse on the western edge of the county have pockets of deprivation where access to advice and service remains difficult.
Councillors on the Local Area Committee heard of a range of service already developed in planning to help those who are struggling to keep body and soul together.
In a report to the Fauldhouse and Breich Valley LAC Nahid Hanif, Manager of the council’s Anti-Poverty service said: “During 2025/26, the project provided support to residents through established community venues in Blackburn and Fauldhouse, making advice services more accessible and ensuring people could access support within their local communities.
“Over the course of the year, 314 customers received support through the project, resulting in £191,714 in additional income being secured for local residents £114,407 problem debt was handled by the project leading to reduction in debt repayments of £68,618.”
The programme was set up under the Advice in Accessible Settings project, funded by AdviceUK, delivers debt advice and income maximisation services through a place-based approach in communities experiencing higher levels of deprivation.
The council has also set up an Unmet Need Dashboard
This was developed in partnership with the national Improvement Service and brings together data on Free School Meals, School Clothing Grants, Education Maintenance Allowance, Universal Credit, Money and Welfare Advice services, and funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) for eligible two-year-olds.
The dashboard supports the identification of local areas where there may be unmet need in relation to child poverty.
Unmet need is defined as situations where families who are eligible for financial support, benefits, or services are not accessing them.
By highlighting data zones with lower-than-expected uptake, the dashboard enables targeted action to improve access to support. Community engagement has been undertaken in areas identified as having low uptake of benefits and services.
This has included outreach through community hubs and schools, alongside targeted communications such as Facebook posts, newsletters, and mailshots, to raise awareness of available support and encourage take-up.
In total, 9% of Advice Shop customers came from the Fauldhouse and Breich Valley ward area in the last year.
Successful outcomes secured for these customers included total financial gains of £2,655,632 million by maximising income from social security benefits.
Households made energy efficiency savings of £85,460 through access to financial support and advice. They received support to deal with £1,141,527 of problem debt which resulted in reduction in debt repayments of £406,389.
The council also issued 375 emergency food vouchers and 287 fuel vouchers for households at risk of disconnection.
Another externally funded project helps those furthest from the labour market find work.
The Pathways Project offers a person centred, caseworker approach, supporting customers to identify short, medium and long-term goals for financial wellbeing and developing tailored action plans to achieve these goals.
Customers work with their named advisor on a one-to-one basis to maximise income, address debt and remove other barriers to work or long-term security with a view to, where possible, supporting people into sustainable employment.
The Pathways team works closely with key services, including Access2Employment, the Supported Employment Service, Adult Learning and Business Gateway.
During 2025/26, the team supported 657 economically inactive customers across West Lothian to engage with services, helping them work towards their long-term goals and achieve positive destinations.
SNP member Councillor Pauline Clark said: “Unfortunately your services are essential Nahid, so it’s just to say thank you for all the valuable work your team does.”
By Stuart Sommerville, Local Democracy Reporter
