Official Report 504KB pdf
Social Security Up-rating (Scotland) Order 2026 [Draft]
Social Security (Up-rating) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2026 [Draft]
Our next item is consideration of two draft Scottish statutory instruments. The instruments were laid under the affirmative procedure, which means that the Parliament must approve them before they come into force.
I welcome to the meeting Shirley-Anne Somerville, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, and her officials from the Scottish Government. Kyle Murray is procedural and international policy team leader, social security policy, and Fiona Bowen is a lawyer. Thank you very much for joining us today.
Following the evidence session, the committee will be invited under item 3 to consider motions to recommend that both instruments be approved. I remind everyone that Scottish Government officials can speak under this item but not in the debate that follows.
I invite the cabinet secretary to make some opening remarks on the SSIs.
Thank you very much, convener, and good morning. I welcome the opportunity to speak to the draft uprating regulations and order.
The Scottish Government is clear about the importance of protecting the real value of social security assistance, particularly at a time when household costs remain under pressure. Uprating payments in line with inflation is essential to ensure that support continues to make a meaningful difference in people’s lives.
The instruments increase all social security payments by 3.8 per cent, in line with the 12 months to September 2025 consumer prices index rate, which is a leading measure of inflation. The exception is the industrial death benefit, which will increase by 4.8 per cent, which is in alignment with the Department for Work and Pensions and reflects growth in earnings.
I take the opportunity to confirm that, following its introduction during 2027-28, the new Scottish child payment premium rate for children under the age of one, which was announced as part of the Scottish budget, will be included in the regulations that we introduce annually to uprate benefits in line with inflation.
In addition to increasing the payment rates, the regulations make a number of other changes, such as increasing the earnings limit from £196 to £204 for both carer support payments and carers allowance. This will ensure that carers who are in paid work can continue to access support as wages rise.
Other minor changes are intended to update legislation so that it accurately reflects the policy intention or to correct drafting errors. These include amending the Carer’s Assistance (Carer Support Payment) (Scotland) Regulations 2023 to clarify the effective date of the end of a carer support award when a client has died and addressing a typographical error in which the year 2026 was unintentionally omitted from a provision.
The regulations also amend the Winter Heating Assistance (Pension Age) (Scotland) Regulations 2024 to clarify that each member of a couple should be treated as though they were entitled to the qualifying benefit, to ensure that the original regulations operate as intended for couples.
The regulations contain saving and transitional provisions so that the previous values of assistance are still payable in certain circumstances. This includes provisions addressing an issue related to the transitional rate of adult disability in 2025-26, where it was not uprated in the legislation, although it is important to note that people were still paid the correct uprated amount.
Subject to parliamentary approval, the increased rates and additional changes will come into effect from April 2026.
Thank you, cabinet secretary. We will now move to questions. Our questions on both instruments will be directed to you, but I reiterate that you are welcome to invite any officials to respond, should you wish to do so. I invite Jeremy Balfour to ask the first question.
Good morning. I think that we have had this discussion before, but will the Scottish Government change the legislative basis of the best start foods payment so that it is covered by the statutory duty to uprate for inflation?
In 2025, we extended the legal obligation to uprate in line with inflation so that it applies to all the benefits that are delivered under the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018. It is our intention that the best start foods payment will be brought under the 2018 act in the future, so that the statutory uprating duty will apply automatically. However, in the interim period, we have made the public commitment to continue to increase the best start foods payment by inflation, so that will happen in practice. In the future, we will look to change the footing of the best start foods payment to allow that to happen by statute.
When will the Government next review its options for uprating? The reason I ask is that, as I see from the briefing, the Scottish Commission on Social Security noted that analysis was last done on uprating options in 2024 and said that they should be reviewed again in due course. What do you take “in due course” to mean?
I note what the Scottish Commission on Social Security said in its response, but I would say that the work that has been undertaken around that, which has been discussed extensively at committee previously, has been very thorough. We therefore believe that future analysis should be carried out if there have been substantive changes in the advice on inflationary measures, whether that advice comes from the Office for Statistics Regulation or the Office for National Statistics. Those are the types of substantive changes that would suggest that the Scottish Government should review its current policy. That is the approach that we intend to take in the future.
So, rather than reviewing the uprating options at a set time in the future, the approach would be to review them when required, based on events and circumstances.
Yes. We have looked at the issue more than once since we began the journey in relation to social security. I am certainly content with the position that we have at the moment, and it is important that we look to question the policy position if there is a substantive change of the sort that I have mentioned.
Good morning. When considering medium-term financial planning, how does the Scottish Government take account of the possibility that inflation might differ from the forecasts and of the impact that that might have on social security spending?
As the committee is aware, the Government uses the Scottish Fiscal Commission’s independent forecasts for the budget and medium-term financial planning, which include the latest economic and inflation forecasts. Any increase in future years’ inflation compared to the SFC’s forecasts will be managed through future budget allocations. As the committee is aware, we need to take account of those things.
The Government has always produced a balanced budget, looking to fiscal sustainability and ensuring that we continue to prioritise social security as part of that. However, the forecasts that are provided by the Scottish Fiscal Commission will allow us to ensure that we are looking at that in the medium-term financial planning window as well.
Thank you. We now move to formal consideration of motions S6M-20533 and S6M-20602.
Motions moved,
That the Social Justice and Social Security Committee recommends that the Social Security Up-rating (Scotland) Order 2026 [draft] be approved.
That the Social Justice and Social Security Committee recommends that the Social Security (Up-rating) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2026 [draft] be approved.—[Shirley-Anne Somerville]
Motions agreed to.
The committee will report on the outcome for both instruments in due course, and I invite the committee to delegate authority to me as convener to approve drafts of the reports for publication. Do members agree to do so?
Members indicated agreement.
I thank the cabinet secretary and her officials for providing evidence today.
I suspend the meeting to allow for a change of witnesses.
09:11
Meeting suspended.
09:12
On resuming—