A Holyrood Committee is calling for individuals and organisations to share their views on proposed changes to the laws governing social security in Scotland.
The Social Justice and Social Security Committee has launched a call for views on the Scottish Government’s Social Security (Scotland) (Amendment) Bill.
Social security legislation was devolved to Holyrood in 2016 and a legal framework to the Scottish Social Security system was introduced in 2018. This meant 11 existing social security benefits were devolved from the Department of Work and Pensions to a new Scottish body, Social Security Scotland.
The new Bill proposes a range of changes, including creating a framework to introduce new social security benefits for children and care experienced people, changing rules about how people can challenge decisions made about social security assistance and repealing COVID measures that allowed people to make late applications.
The Committee will be scrutinising the Bill and considering whether these changes deliver improvements, make the system more efficient and the extent to which they reflect the Scottish Government’s social security principles.
Commenting on the launch of the consultation, Collette Stevenson, Convener of the Social Justice and Social Security Committee, said: “We want to hear what people make of the Scottish Government’s proposed changes to social security laws.
“We’re particularly interested in hearing about the impact these changes will have, whether they deliver value for money and the extent to which there can be further improvement to the system as a result of these changes.
“The proposals in the Bill include introducing new benefits for children and care experienced people, allowing appointees who manage a person’s DWP benefits to also manage their Social Security Scotland benefits and new ways for individuals to appeal when they are not entitled to assistance.
“I would encourage anybody with a view on these plans, or any of the other proposals in the Bill, to complete the call for views on the Parliament’s website.”
The call for views opened yesterday and will be open until Friday 12 January 2024.
The link to where people can share their views on the Bill is:
https://yourviews.parliament.scot/sjssc/social-security-amendment-bill