Current status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 31 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of concerns raised by Young Lives vs Cancer that almost half of patients in Scotland finish their cancer treatment before receiving a decision regarding disability benefit claims due to lengthy waits, what assessment it has made of the adequacy of Social Security Scotland’s disability benefits processing times for children and young people with cancer.
There are a number of factors that impact on how long it takes Social Security Scotland to make a decision on disability benefit applications, including the time taken to gather the supporting information required to make a decision on an application.
Social Security Scotland continues to work with Local Authorities, Health Boards and GP practices across the country to make it faster and easier for them to send supporting information, and is seeing improvements.
The last nine months of official statistics for Child Disability Payment shows Social Security Scotland has made decisions on new applications almost twice as fast as in the previous financial year. The latest official statistics publication can be found at: Social Security Scotland - Child Disability Payment: high level statistics to 31 December 2024.
The latest Adult Disability Payment official statistics publication shows Social Security Scotland has made faster decisions on applications over the last year, with average processing times decreasing significantly in the last ten months, when compared to the previous financial year. Latest Adult Disability Payment statistics can be found at: Social Security Scotland - Adult Disability Payment statistics to 31 January 2025
Social Security Scotland has a dedicated application route for terminally ill children and young people, and anyone in Scotland diagnosed with a terminal illness by their healthcare professional can apply for disability benefits under Special Rules for Terminal Illness. Published data shows that applications under the Special Rules for Terminal Illness are currently processed within three working days for Child Disability Payment and two working days for Adult Disability Payment.