About Social Security Scotland
The Scottish Government held an information session at the Kirkcaldy Galleries on Thursday 12 July 2018 on the new carers allowance supplement as part of the brand new public agency “Social Security Scotland”.
Social Security Scotland (SSS) was setup to deliver new devolved powers following recommendations from the Smith Commission (released after the Scottish Referendum). The driver behind this is the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018.
SSS will take responsibility for the following 11 benefits:
- Best Start Grant (replacing the UK Government’s Sure Start Maternity Grant)
- Funeral Expense Assistance (replacing the UK Government’s Funeral Payment)
- Carers Allowance (at which point we will stop paying Carers Allowance Supplement)
- Young Carers Grant
- Personal Independence Payments
- Disability Living Allowance
- Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit
- Attendance Allowance
- Severe Disablement Allowance
- Cold Weather Payments
- Winter Fuel Payments
The Carers Allowance Supplement is a temporary measure to top up carers allowance in Scotland. It is the first benefit SSS will administer and it will go live in summer 2018.
The next roll out will be in summer 2019 with the best start grant and funeral assistance. Later dates (but before the end of the current parliamentary period) will see the roll out of the remaining benefits listed above.
SSS head quarters will be based in Dundee with another base in Glasgow. 1500 members of staff will work across these two sites with another 400 staff working on the frontline across Scotland, providing more locally based support.
About the Carers Supplement
As it stands the process will work as follows:
- The eligibility criteria, process etc will still be handed by DWP – an agency agreement and SLA has been set-up to enable the DWP and SSS to work together until Carer's Allowance is fully devolved to the Scottish Government
- Those who are in receipt of carers allowance will be processed and they will receive a payment of £221
- This process will happen ever 6 months with those claiming carers allowance receiving two payments of £221 each year
This is the equivalent of and extra £8.50 a week. The reason why this supplement cannot be paid at the same time as Carer’s Allowance is because the way the DWP pays Carer’s Allowance varies. To make sure SSS get the information they need to make payments in the most efficient way possible they will pay Carer’s Allowance Supplement on a set frequency for everyone who is eligible. This will be every six months. This is a temporary measure until Carer’s Allowance transfers to the Scottish Government in full. This will not affect Carer’s Allowance payments and will not be taken into account when carers are assessed for other benefits, including Tax Credits.
Carers will not be required to notify the Local Authority about this but must notify HMRC as this has been classified as a taxable income.
There are no separate application forms for people to complete as the payments will happen automatically for those claiming carers allowance.
Those who are to receive the first round of payments will receive a letter in the post notifying them. This letter will come from SSS which is a fairy new agency and so is not yet well known amongst the general public. If people are concerned about this letter please contact SSS on 0800 029 4974.
For frequently asked questions please click here.
A copy of the slides shown at the event on the 12 July can be viewed by clicking here.