Early access to money and welfare rights advice has a positive impact on individual health and wellbeing.
What are Welfare Advice and Health Partnerships (WAHPs)?
WAHPs provide access to money and rights advice in health care. This is achieved by embedding advice workers in health settings and providing consensual access to medical records.
WAHPs provide a simple, effective, person-centred approach to tackling health inequalities, improving individual health and well-being and producing cost-savings for the public sector. By providing advice services in a non-stigmatised setting, they offer a delivery model which supports earlier intervention and engages individuals who would not usually use ‘traditional’ advice services.
How do WAHPs work?
There is an extensive body of evidence that proves the integration of advice and health services has multiple benefits for funders and providers of health and advice services and individual service users/ patients. WAHPs enable health services to focus on clinical needs, address health inequalities, offer an early intervention approach and enable advice agencies to engage with client groups who would not otherwise access their services.
This video explains how they work in practice, and we hear stories from three clients about the impact the service has had on their lives.
The role of the Improvement Service
The IS offers resources and support to help develop WAHPs which includes access to the Welfare Advice Service Facilitator (WASF) whose remit is to set up welfare advice and health partnerships within healthcare settings.
Funded by Scottish Government, the Improvement Service works in collaboration with NHS Scotland and the Scottish Public Health Network to provide support. The initiative offers advice and support to local authority and third sector advice agencies, Health and Social Care Partnerships, and health services which are interested in developing welfare advice and health partnerships.
In 2024 the Improvement Service published an interim evaluation of the WAHP programme ‘test and learn’ phase. For a summary, see this infographic of its key findings. This found that WAHPs are an effective model of service delivery, providing multiple benefits to service users, primary care staff and advice providers.
In November 2025 the IS published four further reports that considered the effectiveness of Welfare Advice and Health Partnerships (WAHPs) as part of an evaluation of the ‘Test and Learn’ Programme.
The reports considered in more detail the results of the interim report.
Two of the reports considered the effectiveness of the Programme from the perspective of service users and primary care staff respectively.
Impact on health and well-being, and general practice - report
Staff in GP Practices reported that having an advisor as a member of the practice team allowed them to focus on clinical issues. It also improved the support they could provide to patients- particularly those who were most vulnerable.
A service users' perspective - report
Over 70 service users in ten local authority areas took part in interviews. 90% had never previously sought advice and 50% reported an improvement in health due to reduced stress and worry. All thought that access to welfare rights and money advice should be available in all GP surgeries.
Lessons Learned - report
Whilst the benefits of providing services in this way are recognised, it has been important to identify any lessons learned in developing and sustaining WAHPs. Establishing effective relationships by involving an individual with a health background, such as a Practice Manager, a GP or a Health Improvement lead, are important. Clarity on the service that is provided is required as there can be confusion with the different, but complementary roles, of Community Link Workers. There are potential barriers that need to be addressed which can include the lack of space in GP Practices and recruitment of staff.
Rural and Island Communities - report
Rural areas may experience unique challenges due to difficulties maintaining confidentiality in small GP Practices and travel distances.
However, it should be stressed that this method of service delivery, in both urban and rural areas, is an effective way of engaging with individuals who would not otherwise access advice services and in the three years from April 2022 to March 2025 over £54 million in financial gains have been secured for individuals - almost 90% have never previously sought advice.
The story so far
With Scottish Government investment of more than £4 million, WAHPs have put dedicated advisers into 180 GP practices in some of Scotland’s most deprived and rural areas.
They were launched in September 2021, to embed welfare rights officers into150 GP practices and provide service users/patients with advice on increasing income, social security eligibility, debt resolution and housing and employability issues. In the autumn of 2022, it was announced that these would be extended to a further 30 GP practices; 20 rural and 10 island communities.
Read more about this on the Scottish Government website at:
- Welfare Advice and Health Partnerships, 19 March 2021
- Money and welfare advice from GP practices, 22 July 2022
- Related: Financial advice where people need it, 13 August 2023
Phone: 07841 572919