SCVO have expressed concern about the impact of benefit cuts on claimants in Scotland, and I was interviewed last night for Newsnight Scotland about the issues. Whoever edited the programme was very kind to me – I have a dreadful cold and wasn’t exactly full of energy – but part of what they left out was evidence from the CABx, who are receiving not just more problems relating to benefits, but problems of greater complexity as claimants are subject to medical assessments, reduced entitlements and penalities.
The figures I referred to, for expenditure in Scotland and other parts of Britain, are here.
Are the figure quoted accurate? Seem high for 5.2Mil population.
These are the DWP’s figures, not mine. The global totals for Great Britain for 2011/12 are taken from their accounts; the amounts for local authorities and regions have been apportioned. There may be some spurious accuracy – some of the numbers in the cells of spreadsheet I’ve cited are given to 15 significant figures – but they’re the best source we have.