Labour condemning "horrifying" rise in emergency payments for Scots
There has been a 41% rise in the number of crisis grants handed out between 2019 & 2022
Labour is condemning the "horrifying" rise in Scots who need emergency help to feed and clothe their families.
Scottish Welfare Fund figures showed a 41% rise in the number of crisis grants handed out to help people pay for food in emergency situations between 2019 and 2022.
Meanwhile over the same period, the number of Scots awarded the emergency grants to help pay for clothing and shoes increased by 79%.
The data also showed over 95,000 people were given a crisis grant last year to help with essential heating costs - up by 8% from 2019.
Labour social security spokesperson Paul O'Kane said the figures showed that "more and more people are stuck in permanent crisis, relying on emergency funding to afford the basics".
He added: "This is both a horrifying reflection of the scale of this cost-of-living crisis and a damning indictment of our two governments' responses."
He insisted: "People cannot just rely on sticking plaster solutions - both of our governments need to use the powers they have to tackle poverty at its root."
As well as providing crisis grants to help households in financial hardship in emergency situations, the scheme provides community care grants, which help those who have been in care, people leaving prison and those who have been homeless.
Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: "We have allocated almost £3 billion to a range of measures to help mitigate the impacts of the cost-of-living crisis and our investment in the Scottish child payment, the most ambitious child poverty reduction measure in the UK, is estimated to lift 50,000 children out of relative poverty in 2023-24.
"In addition, the Scottish Welfare Fund is part of £120 million a year spent on mitigating against UK Government policies.
"A decade of UK Government austerity and welfare cuts alongside a hard Brexit and mishandling of the economy has led to soaring inflation and increasing prices, and the current cost-of-living crisis.
"We have urged the UK Government to take action just as we are doing within our limited powers and fixed budget. It is clear, though, that it is only with the full economic and fiscal powers of an independent nation that Scottish ministers can use all levers other governments have to tackle poverty and inequalities."