Scottish Government

Statistics Release
Financial Provision and Direct Payments, 2002

A Scottish Executive National Statistics Publication

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Introduction

The purpose of this Statistics Release is to present national figures on Scottish Local Authority Financial Provision and Direct Payments. It applies to payments made during the period 1 ^st April 2001 to 31 ^st March 2002 under sections 12 and 12B of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 and sections 22 and 25 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. These figures are provisional and as such are subject to change. The final figures will be published in Scottish Community Care Statistics 2002.

The information is derived from returns made to the Scottish Executive by Scottish Local Authorities. Refer to the background information outlined later in this information note for further details relating to the collection of financial provision data.

Main Points

• During the year to 31 March 2002 local authorities in Scotland made an estimated 44,456 payments worth nearly 4.4 million under section 12 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968.
• Approximately 86 per cent of the total value of grants/loans was paid to asylum seekers. Chart 1 shows the reason categories for grants/loans being issued.
• Of the 4.4 million issued, local authorities recovered nearly 1.9 million (Table 1).

CHART 1: Types of grants/loans issued by value

• During the year to 31 March 2002 local authorities in Scotland made an estimated 51,707 payments worth over 2.4 million under sections 22 and 25 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. Chart 2 shows the reason categories for grants/loans being issued.

CHART 2: Types of grants/loans issued by value

• During the year to 31 March 2002 an estimated 292 people in Scotland received direct payments from Local Authorities to enable them to purchase community care services. These payments were worth over 3.2 million.

• 61 per cent of people receiving direct payments were those aged 18-64 with physical disabilities. Chart 3 shows a summary of payments by age and client group.

CHART 3: Number of people receiving direct payments

Financial Provision - Adults

Table 1 shows summary information for grants and loans issued by local authorities in Scotland during 2001/02.

The average amount of individual grants/loans was 98 although this ranged from 15 to 171 among the grant/loan reason categories.

TABLE 1 Financial Provision 2002, Scotland

Overall, 43% of the total value of grants/loans issued was recovered. However, only 21 of the 32 authorities recovered any of their payments. These 21 recovered 1.9 million (81% of the amount they had paid out).

Of the 21 authorities that recovered part of the amount they had paid out in grants/loans, Scottish Borders recovered most (93%), followed by Glasgow City (92%), Aberdeen City (76%) and Argyll & Bute (47%).

The numbers of grants and the amounts issued varied greatly between the local authorities.

City of Edinburgh and Glasgow City councils accounted for around 89% of the total amount issued as grants/loans. This was largely due to the 3.9 million that these two authorities paid to asylum seekers.

Table 2 shows the data supplied by local authorities on number of payments made, amounts paid and amounts recovered.

TABLE 2: Financial Provision, 2002, by Local Authority

Financial Provision - Children

Table 3 shows summary information for grants and loans issued by local authorities in Scotland during 2001/02.

The average amount of individual grants/loans was 47 although this ranged from 14 to 268 among the grant/loan reason categories.

TABLE 3 Financial Provision - Children 2002, Scotland

Less than 1% of the total value of grants/loans issued was recovered. The 13 authorities that recovered some of the amounts they had paid out recovered a total of 16,000 (2% of the amount they had paid out

Of the 13 authorities that recovered part of the amount they had paid out in grants/loans, Scottish Borders recovered most (58%), followed by Clackmannanshire (9%).

The numbers of grants and the amounts issued varied greatly between the local authorities.

City of Edinburgh and Glasgow City councils accounted for around 41% of the total amount issued as grants/loans.

Table 4 shows the data supplied by local authorities on number of payments made, amounts paid and amounts recovered.

TABLE 4: Financial Provision, 2001, by Local Authority

Direct payments

Direct payments have been available to disabled people 18-64 since April 1997. They were extended to people aged 65 and over in July 2000. Since 21 December 2001 they have also been available to disabled 16 and 17 year olds and disabled parents for children's services. Direct payments are made to people in these categories to enable them to purchase for themselves the services they have been assessed as needing. This can help increase independence and aid social inclusion.

Table 5 shows number and value of payments by client group and age.

TABLE 5: Direct Payments by client group and age

Of the 292 direct payments made during the year, 74 per cent (217 payments) were made to people with physical disabilities. These payments amounted to more than 2.6 million, over 82 per cent of the total amount paid.

240 payments (82% of the total) were made to people aged 18-64. Direct payments have been available to people aged 65 and over since July 2000 and 52 people in this age group (18% of the total) received payments in the year to 31 March 2002. Although direct payments are now available to disabled people aged 16 and 17, none were made to this age group.

Not all local authorities have chosen to operate a direct payments scheme. Of the 32 authorities, 18 made direct payments during the year.

Table 6 shows the number and value of direct payments made by each local authority.

TABLE 6 : Direct Payments by Local Authority

Fife council made the highest number of payments (22 per cent of the total). These payments amounted to over 0.5 million. However, City of Edinburgh issued direct payments worth nearly 1.2 million, nearly 37 per cent of the total amount paid. The majority of these payments were made to people aged 18 - 64 with physical disabilities.

Background information on the Financial Provision and Direct Payments Survey, 2002

The financial provision and Direct Payments survey is intended to cover all payments made by Scottish Local Authorities under sections 12 and 12B of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 and sections 22 and 25 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995.

Local authorities were asked to provide information relating to the period 1 ^st April 2001 to 31 March 2002 on number of payments, value of payments and amounts recovered for section 12, 22 and 25 payments. Also requested was client group, age group, number of clients and value of payments made under the Direct Payments legislation during the same period.

Responses were obtained from all 32 local authorities.

Clackmannanshire Council did not provide information on the number of payments made under section 22 and 25 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. The numbers of payments made have been estimated using the Scottish averages for each category. Detail of the amounts of the grants/loans issued and the amounts recovered was provided.

Dundee City Council were unable to differentiate between payments made under the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 and the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. The totals provided were split using the Scottish averages for each category.

City of Edinburgh Council did not provide figures for the number of grants/loans issued under Section 12 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968. The numbers of grants/loans issued by Edinburgh was estimated using the Scottish averages for each category.

Fife Council were unable to split travel payments from 'other' payments. The totals provided were split using the Scottish averages for each category.

Care should be taken when using information from the sections that include estimated data.

Some column totals in the tables in this document may not exactly equal the sum of their component parts due to the effects of rounding.

Further Information

Further details and analysis of the data presented in this Statistics Release are available on request from the address below. The Statistics Release is also available on the Internet by accessing the Scottish Executive web site ( www.scotland.gov.uk).

Community Care Statistics
Room 2N:08
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

Contact: Steven Gillespie
Tel: 0131 244 3777
Fax: 0131 244 5427
This statistics release was published on 25 ^th September 2002.