A 22,000-member professional body for the housing sector has welcomed the Scottish Parliament's report into dealing with welfare reforms, but urged people not to "raise expectations".

The Chartered Institute for Scotland (CIH)'s Scotland branch said: "Caution is needed in not raising expectations that the worst impacts of the reforms can be mitigated.”

Last week, the Parliament's new Welfare Reform Committee issued its Stage One report on the Scottish Government's Welfare Reform (Further Provision) Scotland Bill.

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But CIH Scotland said that unless the Scottish Government acts, someone losing benefits such as Income Support or Disability Living Allowance would also lose entitlements that go hand-in-hand with the benefit, including free school meals, free dental treatment and blue badge parking.

David Bookbinder of CIH Scotland said: "It's obviously welcome that these steps are being planned. But it may be that the Scottish Parliament needs to be cautious when it refers to mitigating some of the impacts of the reforms - it will be much more difficult to deal with the direct impacts. We would not want to see anyone's expectations raised unduly. Of course, anything the Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament can do to maximise the availability of advice and to facilitate support in the financial capability field will be really welcome. Even here, though, it's important to bear in mind that in many cases local authorities fund such services and we're all aware of the intense pressures on local government finances in the current climate".

(NE)