One in seven Scots struggling with income

One in seven adults in Scotland are finding it difficult to live on their current income, Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) has said.

A poll conducted by YouGov found that while the majority of respondents said they were “coping” (41 per cent) or “living comfortably” (35 per cent), a significant minority were struggling.

Around 10 per cent said they were finding it difficult to live on their present income, while four per cent said they were finding it very difficult.

CAS has warned this figure could rise in the coming months due to the risk of job losses and the end of the furlough scheme.

The charity said employers will be faced with “hard decisions” about the future of their workers when the scheme wraps up at the end of September.

Financial health policy manager Sarah Jayne Dunn said: “Policymakers acted quickly at the outset of the pandemic to protect people’s incomes and help with costs, but with many people already struggling to cope, Scotland could be facing a looming income crisis when furlough  and other payment support protections wind down and then expire leading to job losses or reduced incomes.

“This will especially be the case if our wider economy is struggling to return to pre-pandemic levels, and employers are faced with making hard decisions on the future of over 300,000 employees in Scotland currently on the furlough scheme.

“The reality is that more and more people will be struggling to make ends meet every month.”

At the end of May, around 2.4 million people were still on furlough.