Current status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 March 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what resources it has committed to progressing the policy commitment to deliver automatic individual payments of universal credit in Scotland, and how it is ensuring this remains a priority within the work of the social justice directorate.
The Scottish Government remains committed to working with the DWP towards the delivery of split payments for Universal Credit. During 2025 we engaged with the DWP to update the policy design specification, which we resubmitted to them in early 2026 with a request for a formal impact assessment to be carried out. We will continue to work with the DWP to ensure this work is carried out as quickly as possible, noting that progress is reliant on DWP resources.