Wheatley Foundation pours £6.7m into supporting tenants

Scotland’s largest social landlord has invested £6.7 million in programmes to support its tenants.

Wheatley Foundation, part of Wheatley Group, spearheaded initiatives to provide more than 9,100 food and fuel vouchers to families of Wheatley Homes Glasgow, Wheatley Homes East, Wheatley Homes South and Loretto, and customers supported by Wheatley Care, in the past year.

Additionally, nearly 8,000 tenants gained welfare benefits advice worth £13.7 million in previously unclaimed benefits, and assisted more than 2,250 young families through partnerships such as Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library which provides free books to children under the age of five.

As a result, a total of more than 17,000 tenants were assisted by the Foundation.

(Image: Wheatley Group)

Professor Paddy Gray OBE, chair of Wheatley Foundation, said: "The Foundation is an invaluable lifeline for many of our tenants who are struggling through financial hardship.

"Over this last year alone, we’ve been able to help our tenants access expert financial advice, employment, training and learning opportunities.

"The £13.7m we helped tenants claim was a record amount for the Foundation and will make a massive difference to families across our communities."

Employment opportunities were also available through the Foundation’s Wheatley Works programme which provided 988 job training and apprenticeships.

The 'Home Comfort' scheme, responsible for upcycling donated furniture offered to tenants at zero cost, saved more than 143 tonnes of household items from entering landfill in the past year.