EMERGENCY payments of over £600,000 have been made to families in Inverclyde who are struggling to get by.

Crisis loans totalling £108,000 have been paid out to almost 1,500 struggling people across the area in the space of just nine months til last December to help pay for food and heating.

A further half a million pounds was spent on nearly 850 community care grants, payments which are needed to prevent people going into care, or help a family facing exceptional pressure.

The shocking statistics have today been branded scandalous by a leading local politician.

Councillor Chris McEleny, who heads up the SNP group on the council, believes it is staggering that so many people are under such pressure that they simply cannot make ends meet.

He told the Tele: “It is a scandal that in a country as wealthy as Scotland, there are still so many people living in poverty — with an increasing number of hard working families being forced to rely on foodbanks in Inverclyde also.” From April 2013, changes to the UK Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) social fund scheme meant that crisis loans and community care grants (CCGs) stopped.

These have since been replaced by the Scottish Welfare Fund (SWF), delivered by councils and funded to the tune of £33m a year by the Scottish Government. Nationally, between July and September last year, 52,400 applications were made to the SWF — up by a third on the same quarter the previous year.

During that period 25,800 crisis grants were awarded — up 32 per cent — with an average award of just over £70, predominantly for food and heating costs.

Meanwhile, there were 11,200 CCGs — up by more than half compared with the same period the year before.

Cllr McEleny, who is bidding to become the SNP’s candidate for Inverclyde in May’s general election, says Scotland must be given more power to make its own decisions on welfare.

He said: “The fact that the SWF is providing more help than ever before shows that in Inverclyde people are now relying on it.

“It is an important example of the kind of action the Scottish Government has taken using the powers it currently has to try and mitigate Westminster’s welfare cuts.

“But as long as welfare decisions remain at Westminster, Scotland’s least well off will remain at risk of further Westminster cuts.

“We need to be able to make our own welfare choices in Scotland, and ensure we can better support those in need in Inverclyde.

“The only way to secure these powers is by electing a strong team of SNP MPs in May.”