Chamber and committees

We are aware that more extreme weather can be a factor affecting the warmth of some people’s homes, not least for communities living on islands and in remote rural areas. This is an issue that has been raised with the UK government over many years by Scottish Ministers and others.

In developing the new Cold Spell Heating Assistance benefit, we are engaging with households who have claimed the existing benefit and a wide range of expert opinion. http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/report.aspx?r=9940&i=91199 .

The costs for Social Security Scotland to administer the Carer’s Allowance Supplement in 2019-20 are estimated to be in the region of £151,000. This does not include Social Security Scotland staffing costs. As per response to PQ S5W-19090, the £193,000 costs for 2018-19 include £43,000 one-off costs for the payment interface. Carer’s Allowance Supplement is an interim solution to deliver the Scottish Government commitment of increasing payment of Carer’s Allowance to the level of Job Seeker’s Allowance from 2018-19. The supplement will cease in due course, once regulations under section 28 of the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 have been made to provide a scheme for assistance to carers. That scheme will provide for payments at the increased rate.

It is not appropriate to compare cost per payment for delivery of Carer’s Allowance and Carer’s Allowance Supplement to eligible carers in Scotland, as these are not like for like.

DWP administer Carer’s Allowance on behalf of Scottish Ministers under an Agency Agreement, and Social Security Scotland make payments of the Carer’s Allowance Supplement to eligible carers. Questions on (a) should be directed to DWP as there is currently no separate delivery arrangement in Scotland. Cost per payment of (b) are estimated to be in the region of £1.

These sections will be commenced when it is appropriate to do so and in line with the timescales for delivery of the disability benefits.

Carers play a vital role in our communities and I have contacted the UK Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to highlight my concerns about the impact of this action by DWP. I have sought reassurance that in the event of any debt recovery action, individual circumstances are taken into account and that people are not prosecuted who have made a genuine error and not knowingly sought to defraud the benefit.

In order to raise the level of Carer’s Allowance to Job Seeker’s Allowance, we introduced Carer's Allowance Supplement as a temporary measure until Carer’s Assistance is being fully delivered by the Scottish Government. This required us to take Executive Competence for Carer’s Allowance, whilst it is delivered under the terms of an Agency Agreement with DWP. The terms of this Agency Agreement stipulate that it will be delivered in Scotland consistently with its delivery in England and Wales. This means that the earnings threshold will remain the same in Scotland as it is in England and Wales in 2019-2020.

We will continue to work with stakeholders and our Experience Panel members to ensure that when Carer’s Assistance is fully delivered in Scotland, that it meets the needs of our carers and those they support.

Social Security Scotland has made 76,996 Carer's Allowance Supplement payments to date. The number of payments issued by Social Security Scotland per week were:

We have emphasised to the Department of Work and Pensions the importance of providing accurate and up-to-date information relating to weather stations both before and after the introduction of the new benefit. This is necessary for the design and delivery of the new system, as well as to ensure there will be a smooth transition for existing recipients.

The experience panels are already collecting information that will inform our design and delivery of the new Cold Spell Heating Assistance. There are over 350 Experience Panel members with experience of Winter Fuel Allowance. Some of these panel members reflected specifically on their experience of Winter Fuel Allowance as part of our ‘About Your Benefits and You’ research in 2017.

It is our intention to seek the views of households who have applied for and benefited from Cold Weather Payments and Winter Fuel Payments as part of our Research Plan for 2019-20.

Policy development began in the summer of last year as part of our planning for the new powers devolved by the Scotland Act. As part of our approach we are involving those with experience of the benefits being devolved and the people of Scotland more generally in the design of the new social security system.