The coalition is calling for the following principles to underpin the 2025/26 Scottish budget

• Make respect for human rights and dignity the cornerstone of Scottish social security.
• Increase social security payment rates to a level where no one is left in poverty, and all have sufficient income to lead a dignified life.
• Financial security for women who experience domestic abuse
• Invest in independent advocacy and advice to help secure people’s right to social security
• Make crisis social security support work for Scotland

You can read more about ScoRSS and read its previous publications, including its vision for change post the 2024 General Election - Scottish Campaign on Rights to Social Security | CPAG

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Project Evaluation and Design: Literature Review.

To understand and address food insecurity, Citizens Advice Scotland teamed up with The Lines Between to develop a research framework for the Routes Out of Crisis (ROOC) project.

The goal? To explore the barriers people face in seeking support during financial crises and identify effective ways to promote long-term change.

This report shares key findings from the literature review, shedding light on how to improve access and impact for those in need. The ROOC project is ongoing until September 2025.

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Our key recommendations:

• Continued development and roll out of text message conveyed progress updates and an online progress tracker linked to a person’s online account.
• Clear and accessible communication to claimants at the outset that they may receive informal contact to clarify gaps in evidence will improve trust and efficiency. Advance notification of this contact via the appropriate communication channel (typically text message) will allow claimants to prepare, access support, and re-arrange the contact as required.
• Relationships between Social Security Scotland and the Third Sector could be further developed to establish consistent links between Local Area Delivery services and frontline advice and representation services. The creation of alternative routes to access Local Area Delivery services would optimise this potential.
• Recording assessment method (telephone, video, in person) combined with award type could help identify possible discrepancies in outcomes.
• Auditing of individual decisions and representative samples of decisions is necessary.
• The development of escalation routes to support advice provision while also building operational issue responsiveness and safeguarding capacity.
• To minimise the risk of claimants “falling through the cracks” a “safety net” provision for cases in which the functional test has not been satisfied should be developed, modelled on that used to determine work capability for means tested benefit.
• In the medium to longer term, anchoring ADP to its purpose to support people to break-down barriers to promote full participation in society and flourishing, requires a re-design of the criteria to better focus on how this can be achieved.

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Our Recommendations

• The re-introduction of Scottish Child Payment as “Childhood Assistance” not anchored to the reserved benefit system is an opportunity to re-imagine how this new benefit might more effectively target child poverty.
• Consideration should be given to tapering eligibility as earnings are introduced or increase and the inclusion of a fair work allowance. The Regulations should allow for an adjustment to be made for one set of wages to be reallocated to another assessment period where two wages have been included in the one assessment period.Such tapering would ideally achieve a balance between an earnings allowance and tapering that does not incentivise keeping hours below a cut off point but does provide support to calculate in advance the impact of changes to enable predictable budgeting.
• Consideration should be given to tapering eligibility as children turn sixteen but are still under the age of nineteen.
• The new payment must maintain its current administrative simplicity but be sufficiently needs targeted as to capture those not currently able to access reserved means tested benefits, including those in receipt of Maternity Allowance, some students, young parents, and those with no recourse to public funds (NRTPF).   
• Access to the new Scottish Child Payment through Social Security Scotland’s Local Area Delivery Teams should be upscaled to become a starting point to developing a holistic, “no wrong door” approach to integrating early years support.

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CAS makes the following submissions restricted to aspects of:

• Part 1 providing the power to introduce Regulations to create Scottish Child Payment (SCP) as a standalone payment, not simply a top up provided to those in receipt of certain reserved benefits.
• Part 2 proposing to repeal certain emergency Coronavirus provision.
• Part 3 proposing new timescales for re-determination or appeal requests, the right to withdraw a re-determination request, clarification of duties where a re-determination has not been completed within the period allowed, powers to make a new determination which stops an appeal following an error whilst an appeal is ongoing, and new powers for the Tribunal in a process appeal.
• Part 4 proposing a right to review, followed by a right to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland, against a finding of liability for an overpayment. 

Our key recommendations:

• Carefully drafted guidance on what constitutes “good reason”, and “exceptional circumstances” will require to include guidance on Covid-19.
• The provisions relating to re-determinations within one year and outwith one year should be mirrored in respect of initial applications for Adult Disability Payment (ADP).
• Return periods for review forms should mirror those for initial applications.
• Consideration should be given to eliminating the re-determination stage for claimants. Doing so would ensure that the process of challenging decisions best supports the dignity of individuals while improving efficiency.
• Clear guidance to claimants and stakeholders about the status of appeals raised when a re-determination has not been completed within the statutory timescales. Such guidance should clarify that these appeals concern the original decision not yet re-determined and that the Tribunal is empowered to substitute its own decision about entitlement. Such guidance would clarify the status of further evidence submitted with the out of time re-determination request.
• Exploring the options for using an income threshold below which lawfully recoverable overpayments will not be collected. 

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We have responded to the Scottish Government's consultation on how the mobility component of the new Adult Disability Payment is working.

In addition to stressing the critical role of advice and support in improving the claimant experience and reaching everyone who needs support, the key points that we have made are:

• Adult Disability Payment is different from Personal Independence Payment in several ways. If these changes are delivered, they will have a positive impact on the lives of our clients.    
• Adult Disability Payment uses the same points-based criterion to assess mobility needs. These criteria do not consider social, practical, and environmental barriers that prevent disabled people from exercising choice and control. The criteria are difficult for claimants to understand and force claimants to focus on what they can’t do.
• The 20-meter distance measure is arbitrary and not evidence based. It prevents claimants with complex mobility restrictions from accessing the level of support that they need.
• The application process needs to be modified to promote a better understanding among claimants of how the criteria apply to mental health and “invisible” conditions.
• The application process needs to be modified to encourage a complete picture account of a claimant’s mobility needs, not of “good days”, “bad days” or even “average days”.  The decision makers guidance needs to be modified to better support decision makers to understand the impact of fluctuating conditions that do not follow predictable patterns.  
• To minimize the risk of claimants falling through the cracks a “safety net” criteria is required.  
• To identify differences in how ADP is working for people with various health circumstances, data recording the main reported condition of new processed ADP applications by award type is necessary. Similarly, data recording assessment method (telephone, video, in person) by award type is necessary to pick up on any detriment being experienced due to chosen assessment method.
• Scotland needs human rights-based disability assistance that has a clear purpose, is paid at an adequate rate, supports independent living and full participation, provides whole-of-life support, is well-connected to other services, and is resilient in the face of change.

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