Criminals are being handed taxpayer-funded payouts to buy clothes and do up their homes after getting out of jail.
Ex-cons can get thousands of pounds for items including paint, household furnishings and even clothes. More than half-a-million pounds has been given to former prisoners in the past two years out of a fund set up to help families struggling to feed themselves.
They are paid the money in the form of fuel cards, bank transfers or cash with no set limit on how much they get.
Last year alone, more than 3,000 ex-prisoners applied for the grants. Some have landed more than £4,000 each.
Victim support campaigner Ann Oakes-Odger said she was “shocked” by the revelations as parents of some murder victims have been paid just £5,000 in criminal compensation.
She said: “With all the cutbacks because of austerity particularly to organisations that support victims and their families I find this quite unbelievable. When families lose a loved one to murder or manslaughter there is little financial support.”
Mrs Oakes-Odger, who founded knifecrimes.org after her son was murdered, said victims’ families may struggle to work due to stress.
She also said families’ incomes can be badly affected if they lose an earning family member as a result of crime.
She said: “I know of victims’ families who have lost their homes. I’m staggered by the costs in supporting offenders coming out of prison.”
Prisoners leaving jail can apply for cash through crisis or community care grants. Both are administered by councils using cash from a national welfare fund. Crisis grants are paid for day-to-day living expenses while community care grants are to help them “set up home in the community”.
Details obtained from eight councils in Scotland show prisoners have been paid £549,373 since April 2013. Many refused to provide details as the full extent of payments is expected to be laid bare by the Scottish Government this week.
Tory justice spokeswoman Margaret Mitchell said: “This is a large headline figure and the public will be concerned to know why these grants are being given out.”
However Andy Keen-Downs, CEO of prisoner support charity Pact, argued the money helps prevent re-offending.
He said: “Many prisoners leave prison with nothing more than the end of custody grant of £46.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said the grants are awarded on the basis of need.
“It’s up local authorities to decide on the most appropriate method of making an award,” he said.
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