Summary and Background
3.The Act makes provision for the establishment of welfare funds which will be maintained by local authorities and will be established to reflect the amendment of Schedule 5 to the Scotland Act 1998 made by the Scotland Act 1998 (Modification of Schedule 5) (No. 2) Order 2013: SI 2013/192. The Act is comprised of fifteen sections. It confers duties on local authorities to maintain and administer welfare funds in particular fashions. It confers powers on the Scottish Ministers to make regulations, and publish guidance which will set out how welfare funds should be administered. It requires local authorities to review their decisions on provision of assistance under welfare funds if an applicant for assistance requests a review. It also requires the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) to carry out second tier reviews, on request, in relation to local authority decisions on provision of assistance under welfare funds.
4.The detail of how welfare funds will be administered is not set out in the Act. However, the intention is that the package of the Act, associated regulations and guidance which the Scottish Ministers intend to make, will set out in legislation arrangements that have been in place on an interim basis since April 2013. Those interim arrangements are known as the Scottish Welfare Fund (SWF) and are based on a voluntary agreement between the Scottish Ministers and the Leaders of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA). The intention is that the legislative package will allow for these arrangements to continue, notwithstanding a change in how second tier reviews will be undertaken. A summary of the interim scheme is provided in paragraphs 6 to 10.