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Scottish Government and DWP officials are engaged in ongoing discussions regarding the safe and secure transfer of devolved benefits, including Disability Assistance. These discussions have included passporting arrangements for reserved benefits.

The Scottish Government does not have any powers to change reserved policy and DWP will continue to determine if someone in receipt of Disability Assistance in Scotland is entitled to receive a benefit or premium which is delivered by DWP.

Research with Experience Panel members on the subject of case transfer is ongoing, and the final report is due for publication in Summer 2019.

Following the launch of our new Best Start Grant payments and Funeral Expense Assistance in summer 2019, we will launch our new Young Carer Grant in the autumn. The grant will provide £300 to young adults aged 16 and 17 (and 18 if still at school) with significant caring responsibilities.

We will also launch our new Job Grant, a consultation for which is currently under way, to support young people moving back into employment.

The Scottish Government has requested information relating to Severe Disablement Allowance caseload on the following dates:

09-05-2016

26-06-2016

06-02-2017

17-07-2017

04-09-2017

The information provided has included working age client data.

Current estimates are that 89,800 cases of people over 65 in receipt of Attendance Allowance will transfer over to Disability Assistance for Older People.

People over 65 who are in receipt of Disability Living Allowance will be transferred over to a Scottish version of DLA for people over 65. People over 65 who are in receipt of Personal Independence Payment will be transferred over to Disability Assistance for Working Age People.

Yes .

The Consultation on Disability Assistance in Scotland, which launched on 5 March 2019, set out our intentions to pay Disability Assistance for Older People based on the following 2018-19 rates for care:

• Lower Rate £57.30
• Higher Rate £85.60

The policies discussed in the consultation and associated papers are not directly relevant to the coordination rules. The rules control how differing social security systems fit together to ensure EEA nationals can access support in other member states. Each participating system remains free to decide the nature of its benefits, eligibility criteria and levels of payment.

The Scottish Government is committed to its legal responsibility to ensure that all devolved benefits offer fair and equal access to EEA nationals.

Agency agreements are a cost-effective way of ensuring that people continue to receive the right payments at the right time whilst we undertake the work required to develop our new system in a safe and steady way.

The costs under each agreement will reflect DWP’s actual delivery cost. Under HMT’s Managing Public Money guidance, DWP are prohibited from charging another government department for services delivered with a view to making a profit. This is to ensure fairness to the tax payer and provides assurance that the costs offer value for money. Agency agreements will be put in place agreed on a case-by-case basis with DWP and detailed costs will be scoped as each agency agreement is prepared. Discussions with DWP in relation to these costs are on-going and a full breakdown is not available at this time.

Agency agreements will reduce a number of overheads for Social Security Scotland, including elements like the staff that we would require to administer these benefits ourselves from the date of executive competence, and other associated costs like property: these need to be set against the cost of the agreements themselves.