Chamber and committees

Within this financial year, we will start carer support payments, so there will be new applications.

The fact is that the Truss Government’s decisions in the summer caused damage to the UK’s economy and therefore the Scottish economy, and to the financial markets. That had a knock-on effect on household costs and on mortgages and therefore on rent levels, on which we took interventionist action through legislation. There was also an impact on the UK Government’s ability to respond, because the financial situation impacted its public finances. Undoubtedly, the UK Government’s actions in the past year have had an impact. That is just a matter of fact.

Of course, there are external factors, such as the war in Ukraine. That is an important point to acknowledge, but the effect of Brexit is also an important factor to acknowledge. This time last year, we would not have anticipated the current level of inflation generally. Projections are of course undertaken, but the effects of what happened in the latter half of last year as a result of bad political decision making definitely had an effect on where we are now, unfortunately. That is why we have responded with our powers and resources to provide additional support in Scotland. We all know how much of a difference that is making in all the constituencies that we represent.

I am happy to take that away and write to the member with more detail. Our engagement with stakeholders working on fuel poverty is and has been appropriate up until the creation of the winter heating payment and through its delivery. We would certainly be interested in feedback from stakeholders on the issues that you have raised.

As I have made the committee aware, following some of our discussions on the winter heating payment, I instructed Social Security Scotland to write to local authorities in areas that had historically had the highest numbers of people receiving cold weather payments in order to emphasise what other support was available, for example the fuel insecurity fund.

There is appropriate engagement and we are open to more engagement. I thank you for raising the issue and I am happy to take it away if you would like any further details that we could provide.

That is another important question and one that we have discussed collectively in other sessions. I have said on several occasions that, in the months ahead, we will review the winter heating payment situation and consider whether payment in this period of the winter, February into March, is the right payment schedule for households. We will engage with a number of parties to consider what may be a better arrangement for winter 2023-24 and thereafter.

I remind colleagues that considerations around when the winter heating payment could be paid out this year were based on our engagement with stakeholders about when would be a good time for them to receive the payment. There was also the reality of the fact that Social Security Scotland was activating the Scottish child payment 2 in November. Scottish child payment 2 is shorthand for the increase to £25 and the extension of eligibility to under-16s. Social Security Scotland was undertaking that new and very significant payment arrangement in November and also paying out the carers allowance supplement and the child winter heating assistance at that time. Importantly, as well as the matters that Social Security Scotland was contending with in that period at the end of last year, our colleagues in the DWP were under a lot of pressure with their cost of living payments, which is why they were able to give us the data scan for winter heating payments only on 31 January, rather than at the beginning of January, which is when the Scottish Government wanted it. We were understanding of our colleagues in the DWP. They had a huge exercise to undertake to pay out their cost of living payments, and we agreed on 31 January because that was the date that the DWP could deliver to. It did deliver to that date—we received the data. The data was effectively processed by Social Security Scotland and payments have been going out in recent days, will be going out as we speak and will be undertaken this month, February, and also in March.

The Scottish Government's priority is to pay the winter heating payment, which is happening as we speak, and it is all scheduled to be paid this month and into next month. Remember that the data scan of 400,000 is the biggest data scan that the Scottish Government has received in connection with paying new Government benefits. It is a very significant execution of a new benefit. Receipt of such a large data provision that we had to engage into our systems and pay out as quickly as possible is unprecedented in the history of Social Security Scotland. It is all happening very successfully. Once we have paid all those benefits out, we can actively report and consider what to do in the winter of 2023-24. I have already instructed policy and programming officials to consider when we deliver the benefit next winter. However, we need to engage with not just stakeholders but potentially also our experience panels and make sure that we get appropriate feedback from people who have received the benefit about what impact it had this winter as part of our consideration of when it would be best to pay it in the winter ahead.

Officials in the Scottish Government and the DWP speak regularly about social security. Of course, the points that you have raised are valid and important. I have already instructed the Scottish Government officials who are engaged in programming and policy on the winter heating payment to consider what we are going to do next winter, and that will include engagement with their DWP counterparts.

As for the review, we will undertake that in a timescale that is appropriate and that allows us to make sure that we are discussing the outcome of those considerations internally with our colleagues in the DWP and also with the Parliament as necessary.

We do, of course, have to work collaboratively with the DWP on timelines. I spoke about that during the debate on the next phases of the programme. We need to discuss things in a manner that is considerate of both our needs. We will engage with the DWP on the winter heating payment for next year once we have completed this year’s winter heating payment. Be assured that the discussions to make sure that we have both orderly and timeous engagement with the DWP ahead of next winter in order to make the payment at the right time that is agreed by both parties will be undertaken appropriately.

However, I emphasise that, within the current arrangement, social security has certainly been prioritised to a large extent with the additional support that has been provided: the £776 million above what we receive through the block grant adjustment.

The letter went from the chief executive of Social Security Scotland, rather than from my office. We can check what response Social Security Scotland has had. Of course, although we can urge councils to do things, we cannot in this regard instruct them. I would consider in good faith, however, that the councils are undertaking and have undertaken necessary and helpful proactive engagement with those in their communities, as they consistently do.

In my opening remarks, I briefly talked about where we are obliged to uprate and where there is discretion. It is important to bear that in mind. Under section 86B of the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018, which, of course, we passed in the Parliament just a few years ago, we are obligated to uprate child disability payment, adult disability payment, funeral support payment and the Scottish child payment, and we will also consider the forthcoming care support payment within the 2018 act. There are obligations under section 81 of the act for the carers allowance supplement. The Scottish child payment is a good example, because we have increased that above inflation—above the statutory requirement. That demonstrates that deviation is possible.

There are exclusively Scottish benefits whereby there is discretion to uprate. In the previous financial year, we chose to uprate by 6 per cent instead of 3.1 per cent for a number of such benefits, and this year we have uprated by 10.1 per cent even though there was no obligation to do so. The flexibility that you query has already been undertaken in certain circumstances.

Thanks, Mr McLennan. It is important to note that the September CPI is a measure of price increases over the preceding 12 months to September and not a measure of inflation during September alone. Devolved Scottish benefits will, therefore, be uprated in April 2023, with the September 2022 12-months CPI rate representing the overall change in prices faced by consumers over the year to September 2022. As I said in my answer to Pam Duncan-Glancy, CPI is a leading measure of inflation published each month by the Office for National Statistics and is a national statistic.

Officials assess alternative uprating options each year, including the use of a CPI rate closer to the time that uprating will take effect. However, the September CPI rate was considered the most appropriate inflation period to use to uprate benefits in April 2023. The September CPI rate is published in October due to the time lag between the period covered by the data and its publication. Using a later 12-month rate or, for example, an average rate over 2022-23 would introduce administrative challenges around setting the Scottish Government’s budget, which is published in December, and then implementing rate changes to benefits thereafter.

It is also preferable to use outturn statistics to forecast, as they reflect the inflation that households have experienced to date rather than predictions of inflation, which are inherently uncertain. We have realised that particularly in recent times.

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