Chamber and committees

We also need to consider the fact that case transfer needs to be undertaken when it comes to carers allowance and the new benefit that were are introducing, carer support payment. We are, of course, undertaking the process of delivering carer support payment, which will be the next benefit that the Scottish Government delivers. Our determination to support carers is demonstrated by carers allowance supplement, which we have paid since 2018, and by the additional support that we paid in 2020 and 2021.

We want to support carers as much as we can within the financial constraints that we are under. That is why the consultation on carers allowance and carer support payment is an important piece of work. It is why the new benefit includes a number of improvements that we hope to make from launch, from the completion of case transfer and then in due course. I look forward to discussing that with Parliament once the consultation responses have been published. It is a very important new benefit. We want to make a difference with it, and part of that is, of course, about the level of payment and the amount that we can provide in support within the financial realities and constraints that the Government faces. It is important to bear in mind that, just as with adult disability payment, there is a very challenging process of case transfer that needs to be completed. Once we have done that—hopefully as quickly as possible; it is certainly the intention to undertake case transfer as timeously as we can—and once everyone is in one system, we will be able to think collectively about what improvements can be made within the financial constraints that we are under.

There is no statutory requirement to uprate best start foods, but, despite that, we increased the best start foods payment in August 2021 from £4.25 to £4.50 a week, a rise that provides a weekly payment that is more generous than those in other parts of the UK, as I have already said. Once it has been uprated in April by 10.1 per cent—should the committee and the Parliament agree the instruments before us—best start foods will provide £19.80 every four weeks throughout pregnancy, £39.60 every four weeks from birth until a child turns one to support breastfeeding mothers or to help with the cost of providing first infant formula milk, and £19.80 every four weeks from the age of one until the child turns three. Many recipients of best start foods will also benefit from our other five family payments, which include the Scottish child payment and the three best start grants.

Our five family payments could already be worth about £10,000 by the time an eligible family’s child turns six, compared to about £1,800 for eligible families in England and Wales—that is significant additional support—and over £20,000 by the time an eligible child is 16. With an expanded range of qualifying benefits compared with the UK healthy voucher scheme, best start foods also offers more choice by including a wider range of healthy foods for families to purchase. Members may have also seen that in recent weeks the Scottish Government has been trying to raise awareness of best start foods and has been encouraging people to check their cards to see whether they are eligible and to utilise that support, because we want people to get the benefit of it.

As members will be aware, the winter heating payment has just been introduced. We have, of course, discussed it at this committee. For the first time, we will provide a stable, reliable payment that will help around 400,000 low-income households and individuals with their heating expenses each winter. As I have said before, our new benefit is an investment of over £20 million each year, which is more than double the £8.3 million on average provided by the Department for Work and Pensions in the past seven years. During that same seven-year period, on average, 185,000 people received support through the UK Government’s cold weather payments in comparison to our new benefit, which, as I said, will provide support to around 400,000 people. As I highlighted in my opening remarks, we will uprate the winter heating payment by 10.1 per cent, should the Parliament agree the instruments before us. That will provide additional support next winter. Members may have seen yesterday’s clarification that the winter heating payment is being paid out as we speak, which we should all welcome.

As ministers in the social justice portfolio, we certainly press the case for additional support for social security through discussions with our colleagues who are finance ministers, particularly if new resource emerges through the process of consequentials or in-year reconsiderations of budget spend. I should say, however, that the finance ministers are very committed to the social justice position. There is a shared determination, as a Government, that it is a national mission to tackle poverty. That has been demonstrated by the fact that the Deputy First Minister and acting finance secretary has committed £428 million to uprating in the next financial year as well as the £442 million for the Scottish child payment.

Yes, in Government we will continue to discuss collaboratively and with the shared determination to tackle poverty what more financial resource can be allocated to social security. As a Government, we are absolutely focused on doing what we can to support people generally, and particularly in these challenging times.

Those are such important questions. They get to the heart of our considerations as a Government and as a society as to how Government can help people in these times. That is why we have done a great deal within our limited powers and relatively fixed budgets to support those on the lowest incomes. For example, in 2023-24 we are committing £776 million above the level of funding forecast to be received from the United Kingdom Government through block grant adjustments. That is a significant amount of additional investment in social security benefits from the Scottish Government.

As the instruments set out, we have chosen to increase the value of benefits where uprating is not a statutory requirement, in recognition of the difficulties faced by many due to the increased cost of living.

We also provided an enhanced uprating of 6 per cent for a range of devolved benefits in 2022—the last financial year—despite the fact that the September 2021 consumer prices index rate at that time was 3.1 per cent. In other words, we gave a significant uplift in the last financial year and we intend to do so in this year. Of course, we increased the Scottish child payment, first from £10 to £20 per week in April 2022, which was an increase of 100 per cent, and again from £20 to £25 from November 2022. That is a significant amount of additional support.

Those choices all represent increases to the value of benefits beyond the statutory uprating requirements, as I have emphasised. As well as the Scottish child payment, compared with UK equivalents our other payments are already more generous than those available in the UK social security system. For example, the best start grant pregnancy and baby payment is currently £642.35 compared to £500 for the sure start maternity grant, the UK equivalent, which is a difference of £142.35. In Scotland, we also have the best start grant pregnancy and baby payment for subsequent children currently at £321.20, for which there is no UK equivalent. The three Scottish best start food payments are also more generous in value than the rest of the UK healthy start equivalent.

Through our seven benefits that are not available elsewhere in the UK and also with our benefits that I have just outlined, for which there is a UK equivalent but we are being more generous and paying more, we are looking in the round to do as much as we can to provide additional support within a largely fixed budget and, of course, with limited power.

I am conscious that I have still to respond formally to that consultation, so I would be grateful if we could consider those matters once I have responded formally. It is important in terms of process that that happens first. I will be happy to engage on those points thereafter.

Yes. For some time, we have been calling on the UK Government to provide additional support for low-income households. We have called for universal credit to be increased and we of course argued strongly that it should not have been reduced by £20. We are now calling for it to be increased by £25, given the cost changes that there have been since then.

In the current situation, with exceptional inflationary pressure, the plain fact is that that means that the largely fixed budget that we have available buys less. That is just the reality of the fiscal position that we are in, as we do not have the borrowing flexibilities that we talked about in response to Mr McLennan’s questions. We have had to allocate and prioritise appropriately within that largely fixed arrangement.

Of course, we have created a more progressive situation in Scotland through the tax powers that we have and the social security decisions that we have made, which was recognised in recent days by the Institute for Fiscal Studies in its reporting. A significant amount of extra support is available for families in Scotland because of decisions that we have made, but the scale of the challenge is unlike anything that has been faced since devolution and since this Parliament recommenced, in 1999. We are in very significant times but, in these times, through the powers that we have and through Social Security Scotland, people are getting more support right now across Scotland. That is making a difference, which is important.

There were discussions around the data scan throughout 2022, which concluded in late 2022. Once we settled on the February commencement of payments—I have always said that the payments would commence from February—there was a continued and consistent ambition from the Scottish Government to get the data in early January. During 2022, largely at official level, we had discussed with the DWP that we hoped to receive and planned on receiving the data early in January, but the DWP, because of the pressures from the cost of living payments, was unable to meet that position. We then agreed on 31 January.

I refute strongly the accusation that there was not adequate planning in social security. I am happy to commit my senior officials who work in programming, agency and policy to come and speak to the committee, because the planning of the delivery of social security benefits in Scotland has, I think, been extremely professional and remarkably delivered and considered while working in a hybrid system where we have to engage with the DWP and where we are still developing a new service that is performing well. You have seen the feedback from people who have used the service and how positive it is.

The number of new clients who made applications for the Scottish child payment in a short period in that November week represented a significant increase in client activity and demand on the service. A huge amount of planning went into that November date, and that is why it was so successful. That required additional recruitment, digital development and significantly wider programming to make sure that everything was effective. Significant Scottish child payments have been issued and I will be able to provide further updates to the Parliament on that in due course. I refute strongly any accusation that the Scottish child payment extension was not properly planned. It was very well planned; it has been very well executed and it has helped thousands of people who would not have got that support if it were not for the Scottish Government initiative. It is not available elsewhere in the UK. I must be very strong about that.

On the latter point, about how the review will be reported, I am happy to update the committee about it in due course, as soon as I can. I have already instructed my officials to consider the timing of the benefit next winter.

May I speak on that point, convener? Thank you, Pam Duncan-Glancy. Of course, there is that aspect of the £428 million, but we are making a commitment to uprate benefits where there is not a statutory duty to do so, and you also have to remember the additional social security that is not provided elsewhere in the UK, such as the £442 million for the Scottish child payment. Let us keep in mind in that wider perspective.

We need to undertake case transfer first.