What can the Scottish Parliament do with new social security powers?

Stephen Richard — Tue, 14 Sep 2021 08:07:24 +0000

Primary Author or Creator

Paul Spicker

Stephen Richard Tue, 09/14/2021 - 09:07

Additional Author(s) / Creators

Common Weal

Alternative Published Date

February 2016

Category

Social welfare

Type of Resource

Assessment report

Fast Facts

An analsys of the d devolution of social security powers to the Scottish Parliament in the Scotland Bill. Whilst the reforms have been represented as giving Scotland “one of the most powerful devolved parliaments in the world.” it is debatable that this is the case. In any federal system, powers lie by default with the states, not with central government. It is open to the states (and sometimes to local governments) to experiment and to innovate. Scotland will not be able to do this.

More details

― The powers transferred to the Scottish Government, whilst valued by those affected by them, are marginal in the overall context of social security in Scotland.

― The administrative infrastructure to delivery many of the devolved benefits is complex, not just in terms of transferring power from Westminster to Scotland but also in determining the relative roles of the Scottish Government and Local Councils in delivery.

― Significant problems may arise where devolved benefits interact with reserved benefits – an increase in the former may offset by a decrease in the latter.

― There is scope for Scotland to significantly improve current benefits using these powers such as by topping up benefits like Carers’ Allowance, Child Benefit or Housing Benefit.

― Some benefits may be improved not by increasing the level of benefit but by broadening provision. Making benefits such as school meals universal rather than means tested will increase uptake and reduce the stigma of claiming them.

― Consideration should be given to using these powers to “top up” or otherwise improve the State Pension.

Resource Address (URL)

https://commonweal.scot/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/What-can-the-Scottish-Parlia…

Keywords

Language English