Office closure

Our office will be closed for the September weekend on Monday 15 September 2025.

We will close at 4pm on Friday 12 September, and normal service will resume at 10am on Tuesday 16 September.

You can still submit a request for an independent review during this time. However, any reviews received after 3pm on Friday 12 September will be processed when we reopen.

Your feedback is important to us!

We are looking to gather feedback on our new Scottish Welfare Fund decision letter via this survey: https://forms.office.com/e/8AY7szX5Qp

2016-17 Statistics

SPSO took on responsibility for Scottish Welfare Fund independent reviews in April 2016. The tables below reflect the number of reviews we handled over the course of our first year of delivering this new service.

We determined 230 community care grant reviews and 207 crisis grant reviews, a total of 437.

The overall average uphold rate for crisis grant applications was 32%.

The overall average uphold rate for community care grant reviews was 43%.

2016-17 statistical tables

The Ombudsman sends some authorities an annual letter about their review numbers.

Ombudsman's SWF letter June 2017 (PDF 176KB)

Statistics by council 2016-17

Aberdeen City Council (PDF 55KB)

Aberdeenshire Council (PDF 56KB)

Dumfries and Galloway (PDF 56KB)

Dundee (PDF 56KB)

East Ayrshire (PDF 56KB)

East Dunbartonshire (PDF 56KB)

East Lothian Council (PDF 56KB)

East Renfrewshire Council (PDF 56KB)

Falkirk Council (PDF 55KB)

Fife Council (PDF 56KB)

Glasgow City Council (PDF 56KB)

Inverclyde Council (PDF 56KB)

Midlothian Council (PDF 56KB)

North Ayrshire Council (PDF 56KB)

North Lanarkshire Council (PDF 56KB)

Perth and Kinross Council (PDF 56KB)

Renfrewshire Council (PDF 56KB)

South Ayrshire Council (PDF 56KB)

South Lanarkshire Council (PDF 56KB)

Stirling Council (PDF 56KB)

The City of Edinburgh Council (PDF 56KB)

The Highland Council (PDF 56KB)

The Moray Council (PDF 56KB)

West Dunbartonshire Council (PDF 56KB)

West Lothian Council (PDF 56KB)