Chamber and committees

The act does not include any specific enforcement provisions if one of the targets is not met—that is how it was passed. That said, I know that stakeholders are keen to press us to pick up the pace with delivering on the poverty targets. I believe that the budget that we set out yesterday does that. I am sure that we will have further discussions about that in the new year, but we are keen to restate our absolute determination to meet those targets.

It would be fair to say that all that presents an additional layer of challenge. We knew that, when the act was passed, we did not have control over certain aspects—for example, over 85 per cent of the social security system—and none of us could have foreseen at that time the other events that Mr MacDonald has highlighted and which have buffeted us all, throughout the UK, and presented additional challenges.

I believe that the work that has been undertaken by the Government has demonstrably made a difference. It is not just the Scottish Government that has said that: stakeholders, too, have pointed to the fact that child poverty is lower in Scotland, because of the work that has been undertaken by the Scottish Government. However, it still remains far too high, and we need to focus our minds on that.

The new UK Government faces a major test in this area. It has set up a task force to look at it, which is welcome, but a task force also needs to come up with conclusions and recommendations and then move on to implementation. If, for example, the UK Government would take heed of the work that has been done by the End Child Poverty coalition, which has looked at the ask of that Government on legally binding goals for child poverty and for it to take action on, for example, the two-child cap and fundamental reform, we would get two Governments working in the same space.

There is a real opportunity for that to happen. My understanding is that the UK task force will report early in the new year. I have had a number of meetings with UK Government ministers to talk about what is happening, and what we wish to happen, in Scotland. I await the report with great interest—and, more important, those who are living in poverty will be awaiting it, too.

The task force will report next year—that is, in 2025—at which stage we will already be undertaking work on our approach to the next child poverty delivery plan. Therefore, things will overlap. It will give us a better idea of what we need to do up here and, indeed, how much support and change are happening elsewhere, which remains to be seen.

We are already doing a lot of work to improve the take-up of the Scottish child payment. Take-up is already exceptionally high, although we are keen never to rest on our laurels—if we know that families out there should receive it but do not, we need to work together to tackle that. Work to drive take-up goes on within Social Security Scotland, but we are keen to work with other partners, too.

Always, as we work through that, we need to work out what data people want, what they are going to do with it and the legal basis for sharing information. We are already working with local authorities to see what can be done between the agency and councils to share information on the Scottish child payment. However, we cannot just give councils that information; for that to have a legal basis, we have to work out why councils want the information and what they are going to do with it.

That might seem obvious and something that could happen quickly. I would like it to be quicker—as would the agency and councils. However, we need to go through due process. I assure the committee that we are all very keen to see what can be done to use the data as effectively and efficiently as possible. Despite my fear of boring the committee by talking about it again, I will say that the legal basis for data sharing is absolutely integral to what we do.

We have very much designed the case transfer process to be safe and secure. Ensuring that people receive the right payments at the right time, with no break in entitlement, is important, and is the top priority. As with other case transfers, people will not need to do anything—the process will happen automatically.

As part of the case transfer process, people will receive letters that clearly explain why the DLA award has been selected for case transfer, what they can expect and who they can contact for further information. We will communicate with individuals in the stakeholder organisations through the usual range of channels to ensure that they are aware of what is going on, should they be required to support anyone who is going through the case transfer process.

We recently met the ill health and disability benefits stakeholder reference group to discuss the approach to communications. The group’s members were supportive of our planned approach, which is to provide information that is tailored to individuals’ specific circumstances.

I appreciate what Paul O’Kane said about the timings in some of the earliest areas of case transfer. Timings have improved markedly, and I thank the DWP for its work in speeding up the movement of cases to Social Security Scotland.

The feedback from people who have been through the case transfer process has been positive. The client survey that was conducted in October and November 2023 showed that a significant majority of people felt informed and reassured about the process, and 80 per cent of people said that the communication that they had received was clear and easy to understand. From 2024-25, the Scottish Government has also allocated £12 million to support, for example, third sector organisations in provision of assistance and support.

I hope that that gives the committee reassurance that we are learning with regard to the improvements that we need to make in the case transfer process, and that we are also supporting others who can give independent advice through that process.

You have raised an important point about advice. Social Security Scotland will not give advice to anyone. It is not there to do so, for this benefit or, indeed, for any others. What it can give, and will give, is information. It will give the information that there is the option to move over to the adult disability payment.

As you say, some people will benefit from that information and some people might not. It is not possible to know whether specific individuals would benefit from it until they have gone through the adult disability payment process. However, it is absolutely not the role of the agency—nor should it be—to suggest to someone whether they would or would not be better off after the process.

The important part is to provide the information and, as I mentioned in my earlier answers, to signpost people to those who can give advice. We provide the information; others provide the advice.

Good morning, convener. I look forward to Mr Balfour’s direct feedback on the case transfer process, as it progresses.

I am pleased to speak to the committee about the draft Disability Assistance (Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance) Regulations 2025 today. The regulations, and the associated consequential amendments, will introduce the Scottish adult disability living allowance from March 2025 and provide a like-for-like case transfer for all remaining adults in Scotland who are in receipt of disability living allowance. This is the final important milestone in the Scottish Government’s ambitious five-year project to safely and securely transfer people’s disability and carer benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions to Social Security Scotland.

Like DLA for adults in the rest of the United Kingdom, Scottish adult DLA will not be open to new applications. Adult disability payment will remain the main disability assistance for adults in Scotland. Instead, Scottish adult DLA maintains the commitment that was made that adults who were over 65 in 2013 when PIP was introduced can continue to receive DLA for as long as they are eligible. The regulations extend that commitment to all adults who are still on DLA, regardless of their age.

That approach is in marked difference to that of the DWP, which requires anyone who was under 65 in 2013 to make an application for personal independence payment if they have a changing condition or are due an award review. We have repeatedly heard how that process has caused significant stress and anxiety for those who went through face-to-face PIP assessments, and we have taken the opportunity to remove that concern from people.

As our priority is the safe and secure transition of awards, the eligibility rules for Scottish adult DLA are broadly similar to those for DLA. However, we have made a number of improvements, as we have done for other forms of disability assistance in Scotland, such as our more generous special rules for terminal illness, providing short-term assistance and ensuring that equal consideration is given to all sources of supporting information.

Once people’s awards have safely moved to Scottish adult DLA, anyone in the younger group—those who were under 65 in 2013—can apply for adult disability payment if they wish to do so. We will provide individuals with clear information to inform their choice of whether they wish to apply for ADP or remain on Scottish adult DLA.

We have engaged extensively with disabled people and our key stakeholders in developing proposals for the transfer of all remaining DLA awards for adults in Scotland. I am immensely grateful to everyone who has participated in the process for Scottish adult DLA, including the members of the former disability and carer benefits expert advisory group, who have been so generous with their time, and the members of the Scottish Commission on Social Security, which provided a number of thoughtful and constructive recommendations on draft regulations. I have accepted almost all of the recommendations from both groups, and I issued my response to the commission’s report when the regulations were laid.

I welcome the opportunity to assist the committee with further consideration of the regulations today.

I am happy to provide further detail in writing about the success of the case transfer process. I was speaking just this week to DWP and Scotland Office colleagues about how the case transfer process has gone exceptionally well, from the points of view of both Governments. We appreciate that there were lessons to learn about speeding up the process at the beginning, but it is going exceptionally smoothly and well, and to time. I am happy to provide reassurance to the committee on that, and in particular on what will happen with the individuals who will be coming over to Scottish adult DLA.

In addition to the information that I gave in my first answer, to Paul O’Kane, I note that we are keen to ensure that Social Security Scotland is staffed, and that those staff are trained specifically on Scottish adult DLA. Some of them will be new staff, but there will also be experienced staff who have dealt with the case transfer process with the adult disability payment, so the new staff can gain from experience that has already been amassed of the previous process.

I am happy to clear that up, and my officials can chip in if I miss anything.

That is one of the changes that we are keen to make from the DWP’s practice. The DWP requires people to change to PIP when their circumstances change. We will not do that: claimants will be assessed in the Scottish adult DLA system and will not be required to change over to the new system. They may wish to do so, but that is for them to decide—we may come on to that discussion later—but there is no requirement for them to do so.

We gave careful consideration to that point. In essence, the decision came down to the fact that I believe that a bright-line rule, such as the one that we have suggested, provides clarity and consistency for both individuals and support organisations.

People will be able to request that their Scottish adult DLA award be reinstated if it has ended in the past year. That ensures parity with the DWP’s approach for DLA renewal applications for an interval. We anticipate that, due to the rolling awards and light-touch reviews, the process will rarely be needed for Scottish adult DLA awards. On the other hand, the DWP’s DLA renewal process requires a full new application at the end of a fixed-term award. There are nuanced differences.

We believe that the provisions in the regulations have been drafted in a way that maintains Scottish adult DLA as a closed benefit, which means that it is available only for individuals who already have a DLA award when the Scottish adult DLA award is launched. We also believe that it is appropriate to limit to 12 months the length of time in which two awards can be linked, given that the awards must be underpinned by the same condition or conditions. Of course, if someone whose award ended more than 12 months ago has experienced a change in their condition, they may be entitled to disability assistance, but they would make a new application through the adult disability payment system.