Official Report 457KB pdf
Social Security (Residence and Presence Requirements) (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2026 [Draft]
Our next item is consideration of an affirmative Scottish statutory instrument. I welcome back the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice. I also welcome, from the Scottish Government, Kyle Murray, procedural and international policy team leader, and Alex MacNeil, who is a solicitor in the social security futures and new benefits branch. Thank you for joining us.
Following this evidence session, the committee will be invited to consider a motion to approve the affirmative instrument. I remind everyone that, although the Government officials can speak under this item, they will not be able to participate in the debate that follows, if there is one.
I invite the cabinet secretary to make some opening remarks on the regulations.
I welcome the opportunity to assist the committee with its consideration of the draft regulations, which will provide a long-term solution to ensure that individuals who are fleeing crises overseas can access Scottish social security benefits quickly when they arrive.
Until now, we have had to introduce emergency regulations each time a crisis has occurred. In recent years, we have brought forward emergency changes following the evacuation from Afghanistan in 2021; the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022; the escalation of violence in Sudan in 2023; the escalation of violence in Israel, the occupied Palestinian territories, the Golan Heights and Lebanon in 2023; and, most recently—in September last year—the escalation of violence between Israel and Iran.
The Scottish Commission on Social Security has welcomed our intention to introduce general crises regulations to reduce reliance on emergency legislation. We have aligned our approach with similar changes that the UK Government has introduced for benefits that it administers. That will ensure that there is parity across the UK for people who arrive here after a crisis abroad.
The regulations will remove the habitual residence and past presence requirements for benefits to which those tests apply. That will apply to British nationals and third-country nationals who already hold leave to remain in the UK, do not require such leave or have been granted humanitarian leave. As immigration law remains reserved to the UK Government, the Scottish Government cannot create new immigration routes or protection schemes.
The regulations will apply where the UK Government has provided public information to advise British nationals to leave a country or territory or has arranged the evacuation of British nationals from that country or territory, or where a person has been granted leave for humanitarian reasons. They will provide a clear exemption for people who arrive via schemes such as the Ukraine scheme or the scheme for the recent medical evacuation of children from Gaza.
The regulations will also extend the temporary absence provisions for people who are stranded abroad due to a crisis, which will enable payments to continue for up to 26 weeks.
In addition, amendments to the best start grant will allow families who are escaping crises to receive the higher-rate pregnancy and baby payment for second or subsequent children, even if their first child was born before they arrived in the UK. That reflects the reality that many families may have been forced to leave belongings and essential items behind.
The past presence and habitual residence tests appear across both UK-wide and Scottish social security legislation. Applying them would mean that people who arrived unexpectedly as a result of a crisis would be unable to receive support until they had spent sufficient time in the UK or the common travel area, which they could not reasonably prepare for in advance. The regulations will therefore disapply those tests for individuals in the specified groups and will ensure that, where they meet all other eligibility criteria, they can access the support that they need from day 1.
Overall, the changes will strengthen our ability to respond swiftly and compassionately to international crises, to protect vulnerable people and to avoid the need for repeated emergency legislation. I am grateful to the Scottish Commission on Social Security for its scrutiny and recommendations, which were accepted. Subject to parliamentary approval, the changes will commence on 18 March 2026.
Thank you, cabinet secretary. Are there any questions on the regulations?
I think that there is good will across the committee for the regulations. I have just seen in my notes, and I think that you mentioned it, cabinet secretary, that similar regulations were approved at the UK level a few months ago, so there appears to be clear alignment in the UK with what we are doing here. Will there be a joint approach to monitoring the impact of the regulations? We do not want these emergency crises to happen, but we know that they do, so will there be a joint approach to monitoring the impact of the policy in the years ahead?
It is important that we continue to work closely with the UK Government officials as we monitor the policy’s impact. As we have said many times in committee, Department for Work and Pensions ministers and Scottish Government ministers disagree vehemently on a lot of policy issues but, alongside that, we have a good working relationship on the practicalities of issues such as this. We will continue to liaise regularly with our counterparts in the UK Government at the ministerial and official level to ensure that we monitor how the policy is working in practice.
I just wanted to give the cabinet secretary the opportunity to put that on the record.
People who benefit from these regulations might be more likely to have a language barrier when claiming the benefits. What will the Scottish Government do to ensure that people who might benefit from the policy are aware of the support for which they might be eligible?
Social security works closely with relevant stakeholder organisations to ensure that we provide information in a way and in places that will help individuals. It is important that we provide information in different languages and a wide range of formats. It is a key measurement of the social security charter that interpreter and translation services are available in person, in writing and over the phone to ensure that language is not a barrier.
That is why it is deeply disappointing that the Scottish Conservatives chose to say that they would make a saving by taking away translation and interpretation services from people who are at a crisis point in their lives and are seeking help at the most difficult and tragic of times. The fact that the Scottish Conservatives would pick that as a way of making savings points to the barbarity of the proposals that they made last week.
Thank you for your responses to the questions. Item 4 is formal consideration of the motion.
Motion moved,
That the Social Justice and Social Security Committee recommends that the Social Security (Residence and Presence Requirements) (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2026 [draft] be approved.—[Shirley-Anne Somerville]
Motion agreed to.
Are members content to delegate responsibility to me to approve a short factual report to the Parliament on the instrument?
Members indicated agreement.
I thank the cabinet secretary and her officials. That concludes our public business, so we now move into private session.
10:24
Meeting continued in private until 10:52.
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