Glasgow prisoners in Barlinnie helped to make universal credit applications

Barlinnie prison.
-Credit:Andrew Milligan/PA Wire


More than 200 universal credit applications came from Barlinnie Prison between January and October last year according to a new report.

Figures presented to Glasgow City Council’s operations and scrutiny committee reveals that during the ten month period, a digital support service run by Glasgow Life to help those who lack the skills to apply for and maintain a universal credit claim, had a 94% success rate for applications.

The team provides one-to-one support, including translation services where appropriate, to help those who need it lodge a successful universal credit claim.

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Between January and October 2024 a total of 1880 enquiries were made about universal credit to Glasgow Life’s Assisted Digital Support.

Of those, 845 enquiries were supported over the telephone while 1035 people were supported in person - 221 of which were based in HMP Barlinnie.

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During the meeting, councillor Martha Wardrop said: “I am interested in the digital assisted support work.It looks like you have done some work with Barlinnie and working with prisoners.

“Are you working with criminal justice and community justice colleagues to evaluate that work because one of the concerns is around homelessness in the prisoner release programme and people coming out of prison having difficulty accessing housing support.”

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A council officer said: “The Barlinnie work is really interesting as the committee will be aware that unfortunately there are people who find themselves in prison who are unable to apply for universal credit until they are actually released from prison services.

“This is a project with the Scottish Prison Service to talk about what role Glasgow Life and particularly our libraries and the work that we do to support accessing benefits.”

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