Chamber and committees

Citizens Advice Scotland’s nine month progress report (November 18 to July 19) shows verified financial gains of £6,005,338.69 for 3,198 Money Talk Team clients.

We do not hold information on the verified financial gains for each client.

We recently undertook a six week national marketing campaign in partnership with Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) to help promote the service and generate demand. We are content that this funding will match demand and continue to meet regularly with CAS to monitor on-going performance.

Between the agency launch on 1 September 2018 and 13 November 2019, Social Security Scotland passed 627 fraud interest referrals to DWP. In that same period, Social Security Scotland have received no fraud interest referrals from DWP.

Scottish Government analysis of the inclusion of a mobility component in Disability Assistance for Older People (DAOP) estimated the annual cost of mobility payments in five year age bands for ages 65-69 to 80-84, and the cost for all people aged 85 and over.

Note, totals may not sum due to rounding.

Citizens Advice Scotland’s nine month progress report (November 18 to July 19) for the Money Talk Team shows budget spend of £1,770,978. This is in line with the grant funding schedule for year one which shows two instalments of £900,000.

The following tables present our current illustrative estimates of the number of children under 6 and families eligible for the Scottish Child Payment in 2020-21. We expect the caseload to be relatively constant until the increase in age limit to 16, so the figures below are applicable across the duration of the under-six payment.

Table 1: Eligible Children Under 6 and Families by Local Authority

In response to part (a)(i) of the question, the following table presents our current illustrative estimates of the number of children under 6 eligible for the Scottish Child Payment, by local authority, as a proportion of all children under 6 in each local authority, in 2020-21. We expect the caseload to be relatively constant until the increase in age limit to 16, so the figures below are applicable across the duration of the under-six payment.

There is no additional cost associated with increasing the qualifying age of Disability Assistance for Working Age People in line with the state pension age as the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will also increase the qualifying age for equivalent reserved disability benefits in line with state pension age.

The Scottish Government sought views on the eligibility criteria for Disability Assistance for Older People as part of our recent Consultation on Disability Assistance in Scotland. We will continue to engage with stakeholders, including Experience Panels, as required during the development of the regulations for Disability Assistance for Older People.

The Scottish Government remains committed to ensuring that everybody who can and wants to work has the opportunity to find fulfilling and sustainable employment, and that those facing barriers to employment, including many disabled people, can access any additional support they need.

We are continuing with our preparations to develop a new provision to replace DWP’s Specialist Employability Support scheme. This includes Scottish Government officials engaging with key stakeholders to ensure we understand the needs of individuals, including the specific needs of disabled people in Scotland for whom more mainstream employment support is not appropriate.

As stated within A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People: Employment Action Plan the creation of a bespoke Scottish support service is subject to clarification of the UK Government funding settlement. This funding has still to be confirmed and we are in ongoing discussions with the DWP on the level of funding to be transferred to Scotland as part of the devolution settlement.

Our devolved employability service, Fair Start Scotland, offers tailored specific support for individuals, recognising their skills and helping them to realise their employment aspirations. In considering DWP’s Intensive Personalised Employment Support (IPES) offer we have identified some key similarities with the current support provided under Fair Start Scotland, which we are therefore keen to explore further with stakeholders. Our intention remains to ensure that there is support in place from January 2020 that meets the specific needs of disabled people in Scotland for whom more mainstream employment support is not appropriate.