Scotland's social security system: Enhanced Administration and Compensation Recovery - consultation

Overview

This consultation seeks views on a number of proposed changes which have been identified as desirable since the passage of prior primary legislation, principally the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 (the ‘2018 Act’). 

The Scottish system of social security is founded on dignity, fairness and respect, and takes a rights-based approach to delivering devolved welfare powers. 

The Scottish Social Security Principles provide the foundation of this Scottish system. These seven core principles deliberately correspond to some of the fundamental aspects of the right to social security, as set out in key human rights instruments such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Social Charter.

The principles are set out on the face of the 2018 Act, with strong stakeholder and public support, and with the intention of embedding the more positive, supportive ethos of the Scottish system from the outset.

The proposals being consulted on in this document are aimed at effecting the continuous improvement of the Scottish social security system across a range of topics, in line with the following social security principles: 

opportunities are to be sought to continuously improve the Scottish social security system in ways which put the needs of those who require assistance first, and advance equality and non-discrimination 

the Scottish social security system is to be efficient and deliver value for money

Why your views matter

We want to gather your views on the proposals to improve the social security system in Scotland.  Since social security powers were devolved, we have focused on developing a public service co-designed by people with lived experience of social security systems. We want to continue to put client experience at the heart of the design and improvement of Scottish social security processes and services.

Your views will help to refine and develop the proposals laid out in the consultation. Responding to this consultation offers you the valuable opportunity to shape important changes to strengthen the social security system in Scotland.

The responses to this consultation will be analysed and used to develop social security policy. Once the responses to this consultation have been analysed we will provide a further update to explain our next steps.

What happens next

This consultation has now closed. 

We are looking at and analysing the responses to this consultation. We will use the feedback from the consultation to develop our proposals to enhance the social security system in Scotland. 

We will provide an update on our next steps when we have completed the analysis of responses.