The 10 Scottish social security benefits paid more than £3million to people across East Ayrshire in 2020/21.

The payments include support for eligible families with young children, carers, people who need help paying for a funeral, young people entering the workplace and families with disabled children to provide help to heat their homes.

The annual Client Survey also published today shows that people have a very positive experience of Social Security Scotland with 92 per cent of people saying their overall experience was ‘very good’ or ‘good’. Ninety four per cent of people who had been in touch with client advisers also said they had been treated with kindness.

Chief Executive of Social Security Scotland, David Wallace said: “I am proud to say that, despite the challenges COVID-19 presented, we continued to pay out benefits throughout the year and deliver high levels of service to our clients.

“We also introduced three new benefits – Job Start Payment, Child Winter Heating Assistance and our most significant benefits to date – Scottish Child Payment – all while the majority of our staff worked remotely. We will continue to put our clients at the heart of our work.”