Chamber and committees

Sections 95 to 100 of the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 came into force on 2 June 2018 and sections 81 to 85 (and 76 in part) came into force on 3 September 2018. A second set of commencement regulations will be laid before the Scottish Parliament shortly, with further sections of the Act being commenced as and when appropriate.

The following table provides current data obtained from DWP on approximately how many claimants in Scotland have an outstanding overpayment of Carer’s Allowance and how many of these overpayments have been classified as fraud. The table also breaks down the figures by the value of the debt.

The Scottish Government assumed executive competence for Carer's Allowance, and associated debt, on 3 September 2018. As Carers Allowance will continued to be delivered by DWP under an agency agreement, the recovery of this debt is subject to existing rules.

Universal Credit (UC) Scottish choices do not have a separate budget line in the Social Security budget. Costs are contained within the allocated budget for the Social Security Directorate. This includes all staffing and communications costs associated with UC Scottish choices.

The Scottish Government paid £529,785.58 to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in April 2018 for one-off implementation costs which included changes to the UC IT system and updates to DWP staff guidance and training.

The Scottish Government estimates ongoing operational costs to be up to
‎ £0.4 million in 2017-18; and up to £1.6 million in 2018-19. The Scottish Government will only pay for the actual number of UC Scottish choices offered and taken up. We expect to receive an invoice from the DWP shortly, based on actual take up rates covering the period 4 October 2017 (when the choices were first made available) to 31 March 2018.

As the executive competence for the administration of a benefit transfers to Scotland, Social Security Scotland will publish statistics for Scotland on that benefit. In line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, publication dates for statistics for Social Security Scotland from 2018 onwards will be pre-announced through a 12-month release calendar, giving a specific release date at least four weeks in advance where practicable.

The Experience Panels research plan for 2018-19 can be found on the Scottish Government website at the following link: https://beta.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/corporate-report/2017/06/social-security-scotland-bill-privacy-impact-assessment/documents/social-security-experience-panels-2018-2019-research-plan/social-security-experience-panels-2018-2019-research-plan/govscot%3Adocument . It contains estimated publication dates for each project. Please note these are subject to change.

The Early Years Assistance (Best Start Grants) (Scotland) Regulations 2018 do not have a backdate period. They will come in to force the day after the date on which they are made. This date will be aligned with the start date for applications.

The funding transfer which will accompany the transfer of executive competence for Sure Start Maternity Grant has not yet been agreed with the UK Government. However, it is expected that this will be equivalent to the level of planned expenditure in Scotland from the date of transfer to the end of the financial year.

The Scottish Government will fund any gap between the amount of funding received and actual expenditure on the Best Start Pregnancy and Baby Grant in 2018-19.

The Best Start Grant is made up of 3 separate grants and an application is required for each grant. Implementation will be in 2 phases.

Social Security Scotland will accept applications from those eligible for the Pregnancy and Baby Grant before Christmas 2018.

Delivery of the Early Learning and School Age Grants will follow by Summer 2019. Applications for these grants will not be accepted beforehand. Once delivery has begun, payments will be made to those who are eligible on the date of application and will not be made retrospectively to those who may have qualified earlier.

Social Security Scotland will make payments for both the early learning and school age grants by Summer 2019. Regulations to provide for that assistance will be laid in draft for the Scottish Parliament’s approval in the usual way in advance of the first payments being made.

Part 2 Chapter 5 of the 2018 Act relates to the liability of individuals to repay assistance that is given in error under the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018. The Scottish Government intends to commence most of that chapter of the Act shortly, and will lay Commencement Regulations and explanatory material before the Parliament in the usual way.