Budget did not deliver 'breathing space' for Scotland's most needy

To mitigate real harms faced by people across Scotland, the Chancellor needed to take meaningful and targeted action across energy, housing and social security – both in the short and long term.

While additional investment in building new homes is both welcome and needed, it was bitterly disappointing to yet again see the freeze on local housing allowance remain in place, putting low-income renters under significant financial pressure and at increasing risk of homelessness. With average private rent arrears brought to a local CAB over £4,700, this will entrench existing pressures on people already struggling.

The removal of the financial cliff edge for those receiving carers allowance is a positive step. This means carers, a group known to face disproportionate harms, will now lose £1 for every additional pound earned above the earnings limit, rather than losing the entire payment. A change long called for from across the sector. And one therefore, people in Scotland are likely to expect to be mirrored via the carers support payment.

Any real change for welfare is in the post as we wait for final reports of both the Timms and Millburn reviews. Social security is an investment in all of us, a key preventative tool. Reform is needed. We need to create a real safety net and springboard that any of us can use during life's challenges and helps us move forward to positive destinations.

The most urgent area for action was energy. With bills continuing to rise exponentially and energy debt accruing at a blistering pace, thousands of people across Scotland are on the precipice of a winter of catastrophic physical, mental and financial harm. People we support, like Kirsty and her four-year-old daughter. Left without heating and hot water as she was unable to afford topping up her prepayment meter; consumed with worry about how they’d cope given her next source of income was two weeks away.

That's why the Chancellor needed to deliver interventions that matched the scale of the emergency. He didn't. £100 off bills is a fraction of the amount needed to enable people to keep the heating and lights on this winter. This payment delivers neither breathing space nor hope for those who need it most.

Our energy market is broken. Increasing numbers cannot afford this essential that we all need. While it's credible to say that the wars in Ukraine or Iran may not have been predicted, the volatility baked into the system means that harm to those in the most vulnerable circumstances was always going to be inevitable without change.

That's why we've long called for a social tariff on energy bills. A discounted unit rate for those on low incomes and with unavoidable high usage, like disabled people, to help guarantee heat and light.

The network of local CABs and our Extra Help Unit is braced for an exceptionally difficult winter, as the cumulative impacts of an enduring cost of living crisis bear deep scars on people and places. It will be our advisers who will work tirelessly to try to bring breathing space and hope to their communities.

Emma Jackson is Deputy Director (Policy and Research) of Citizens Advice Scotland.