Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Letter about the start of the Child Disability Payment case transfer process
Letter from Minister for Social Security and Local Government, 11 October 2021
Dear Neil/Convener,
Case Transfer
I am pleased to inform you that from today, 11 October 2021, the first Disability Living Allowance for Children awards will be selected for transfer as part of our ambitious Child Disability Payment case transfer process. In the coming weeks, the first individuals will receive letters from Social Security Scotland informing them that their benefit is to be transferred. Case transfer involves Social Security Scotland taking administrative responsibility for ongoing disability and carer benefit awards being administered by the Department for Work and Pensions and replacing individual benefit awards with the equivalent Scottish form of assistance. Individual cases will be selected for transfer in phases, with the final Disability Living Allowance for Children cases completing the transfer process in spring 2023.
The Case Transfer Process
It is important to note that case transfer is not a simple administrative process. It is a complex transfer of data, forms and evidence, and legal entitlement. Despite its complexity, we have worked with the Experience Panels and other key stakeholders to design a process with dignity and respect at its heart.
It was through this intensive stakeholder engagement that we developed our case transfer principles:
- no one will be required to apply for the Scottish benefit as part of the transfer process;
- clients will continue to receive the right payment, at the right time;
- no one will be subject to a DWP face-to-face assessment after Adult Disability Payment launches nationally where possible;
- we will complete the transfer process as soon as possible while ensuring it remains safe and secure;
- we will clearly communicate with our clients.
We have developed a safe and secure process, which will require no action on behalf of the individual wherever possible, in line with these principles. We have set out below the process as it applies for transfers from Disability Living Allowance for Children to Child Disability Payment. The transfer processes for assistance to be delivered in future will be largely similar, though there will be some key deviations due to fundamental differences in how each form of assistance works and interacts with the reserved system. We will write to the committee to describe these individual processes as they are developed.
Disability Living Allowance to Child Disability Payment
When an individual’s disability benefit has been selected for transfer, Scottish Ministers will receive from DWP data and information relevant to the individual’s most recent Disability Living Allowance for Children award. Once Scottish Ministers have received this information, they will issue the individual with a notice of intention to transfer, which will set out the process and timescales for that transfer.
Scottish Ministers will use the information from DWP to make a determination without application of the individual’s entitlement to Child Disability Payment on a like for like basis within a set timeframe. This timeframe can be extended if both Scottish Ministers and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions agree there is good reason to do so. The determination of the individual’s entitlement to Child Disability Payment will end the corresponding award of Disability Living Allowance for Children ensuring continuous entitlement.
Redeterminations and Appeals
A determination of entitlement in respect of Child Disability Payment made as a result of the case transfer process comes with the same rights to re-determination and appeal as any other determination made under section 52 of the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018.
Differences between Disability Living Allowance and Child Disability Payment
As there are some differences in the eligibility criteria between Disability Living Allowance and Child Disability Payment, there may be some limited circumstances where an individual’s entitlement to Child Disability Payment should be higher than their Disability Living Allowance award. Where Social Security Scotland have identified such a case, either from the information provided by DWP or additional information from the individual, provision has been made to pay Child Disability Payment at the relevant higher rate from the point of transfer.
To ensure that individuals whose case is selected later in the process have not been disadvantaged when compared to those that have been selected earlier where they meet one of these exceptions, we have introduced backdating provisions in our proposed amendments to the Child Disability Payment regulations. These provisions are legally complex and describe a complicated process we have developed with the Department for Work and Pensions. It highlights that even the smallest changes in eligibility rules between our Scottish forms of assistance and the benefits they replace creates a more complicated, and therefore higher risk, case transfer process.
Residence and Presence Conditions
To ensure we can complete the transfer of a case without any breaks in payment, an individual will be assumed to meet the residence and presence conditions for Child Disability Payment at the point of transfer if they have a Scottish postcode. If we determine after transfer that an individual should not have transferred because they fail to meet the residence and presence conditions, a
further determination without application will be made that will nullify the case transfer Child Disability Payment determination and the resulting entitlement. This will in turn also nullify the termination of the Disability Living Allowance award.
Appointees
Similarly, because our appointee provisions require different checks are completed, all individuals appointed by DWP in respect of a Disability Living Allowance award will be temporarily deemed to act as an appointee for the purposes of Child Disability Payment until it is reasonably practicable for Scottish Ministers to consider whether to make an appointment under the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018. This ensures no payments will have to be suspended or otherwise delayed while these checks are being completed during or immediately after the transfer process.
Communications
We will clearly communicate the case transfer process so clients understand when and how their benefits will be transferred. As above we have set a clear timetable of our timelines to transfer benefits for children and young people currently receiving Disability Living Allowance to ensure clients and other stakeholders have clarity about when we are planning on completing the process. We have undertaken a number of external roadshows that describe the process in detail. Stakeholders have been positive about the process and its limited impact on clients.
We will also clearly communicate to clients what they need to do as part of the transfer process. While we have endeavoured to automate things as far as possible so clients do not need to intervene, there are some circumstances where we will not have, and will not be receiving from the Department for Work and Pensions, relevant information. Firstly, with regards to some of the differences in eligibility criteria highlighted above, we will require clients to get in touch with us if they feel one of the exceptions apply. Similarly, where clients are in receipt of benefits for which Disability Living Allowance for Children or Child Disability Payment is a qualifying benefit or to which they passport, individuals will need to get in touch with the agencies awarding those benefits. This is largely similar to how the process works currently. These scenarios will be clearly set out in the communications we send to clients. It is important to note that Disability Living Allowance for Children and Child Disability Payment are the same for these purposes, and there should therefore be no break in entitlement.
Conclusion
I hope this information reassures the committee that the transfer process we have developed is safe and secure with dignity and respect at its core. No client will have to make an application as part of this process, no one will have their award changed (though a small fraction may see their award increased), and everyone will continue to be paid on the dates they are used to being paid. We are doing things quickly, but will not risk continuity of entitlement for clients, and we will be clear with clients about when and how their award will transfer.
This is an incredibly complex process that will take time to complete the right way and I want to thank the committee for its part in making the safe and secure transfer of benefits a reality.
Best regards,
BEN MACPHERSON