Welfare in Scotland: Committee to question Social service providers on accessing social security and experience of poverty

• Watch the session on Parliament TV
• Inquiry: Welfare policy in Scotland
• Scottish Affairs Committee

Changes in the welfare system and increased demand on it have meant that service providers have come under increasing strain as some people struggle with unfamiliar processes, payment delays and Universal Credit’s digital-first policy.

Among the topics MPs on the Committee are likely to address with the panel, featuring foodbank, housing provider and Glasgow City Council representatives, are:

• the £20 uplift in Universal Credit;
  
  
• the experience, drivers of and measures to reduce poverty in Scotland;
  
  
• respective benefits of social security provided for by the UK and Scottish Governments; and
  
  
• UK and Scottish Government joined-up working on social security.

Witnesses

Thursday 11 February 2021

At 11.30am:

• Polly Jones, Head of Scotland, Trussell Trust;
  
  
• Suzanne Lavelle, Advice Team Leader, Southside Housing Association;
  
  
• Cllr Richard Bell, Treasurer, Glasgow City Council.

Further information

• About Parliament: Select committees
• Visiting Parliament: Watch committees

Image: JJ Ellison, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons