Benefit Take-Up Strategy 2026-2031

Executive summary

Why this Strategy matters

Scottish Ministers have a statutory duty under the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 to promote take-up of the assistance people are entitled to, and to publish a Benefit Take-Up Strategy setting out the steps Ministers intend to take to do this. This Strategy fulfils that duty for the period 2026-2031.

Maximising take-up is central to reducing poverty, improving wellbeing and helping people realise their rights. It increases household incomes, supports family finances, recognises the additional costs of disability, ill health and caring, and helps people access support before financial pressures escalate. It also contributes to Scotland’s wider ambitions for tackling child poverty and Public Service Reform by helping services become more preventative, joined up and organised around and responsive to people’s needs.

Data sharing as a driver of change

A central ambition of this Strategy is to explore how lawful, transparent and trusted data sharing can support a more proactive and preventative system of support. Better use of information already held across public services can help identify need earlier, reduce duplication and connect people to support more effectively.

A whole system approach to take-up

Reserved benefits, particularly Universal Credit and Pension Credit, can play an important role in helping people access wider support, including help with the costs of childcare. For many households, entitlement to a reserved benefit can act as a gateway to Scottish Government benefits, local authority support and other forms of financial assistance.

This Strategy will therefore place greater emphasis on helping people understand and access their full entitlements through clearer routes into free advice and income maximisation support and better join up with the UK Government.

Our ambition for 2031

By 2031, our ambition is for Scotland to have a more joined-up, proactive and accessible approach to benefit take-up that also maximises people’s access to other relevant support.

This means moving from a system that too often relies on people finding their own way through complexity, towards one that identifies need earlier, connects services more effectively and supports people before financial pressures escalate.

Our ambition is that benefit take-up is understood not as a standalone activity, but as a core part of how Scotland reduces poverty, improves financial wellbeing and delivers more preventative public services, ultimately improving outcomes for people across Scotland.

We want people to:

• understand their rights and know what support they are entitled to;
• know where and how to access the support they are entitled to;
• feel safe, respected and confident accessing support;
• access support without needing to navigate complex systems alone;
• get the right support at the right time; and
• experience a faster, simpler and more predictable application journey.

Our four priority areas

The Strategy is built around four priority areas, set out below, where evidence demonstrates we can make the greatest difference to these outcomes. Progress in these areas will be delivered in three phases over the lifetime of the Strategy:

Phase one: Maximising current support

Phase two: Testing and developing new approaches

Phase three: Embedding successful approaches

1. Data sharing, signposting and referrals

This area focuses on how services gather and use information and connect people to support. It will strengthen lawful and trusted data sharing, make signposting to additional relevant entitlements and services more consistent, and develop referral pathways where people need more active support than information alone can provide.

Signposting means making clients aware of other relevant services, information or support that may be helpful to them. It does not involve Social Security Scotland sharing a client’s personal data with another organisation, and the next step remains with the client to decide whether and how to contact or access the service they have been signposted to. This is distinct from a referral pathway, where information may be passed between services with the appropriate legal basis, consent and safeguards in place and someone may be proactively offered further relevant support as a result.

2. Pre-application support

This area focuses on the support people need before they apply. It will make understandable and accessible information, free and independent advice, advocacy and practical help easier to access at key life events through trusted organisations, local services and community settings.

3. Awareness raising, outreach and engagement

This area focuses on reaching people who are less likely to hear about, engage with or apply for support. It will use evidence, lived experience and local insight to tailor outreach effectively, while promoting accessible, culturally competent and stigma-free messages that reinforce social security as a human right. This is particularly important for ensuring that barriers to take-up are tackled for seldom-heard groups.

4. Accessible processes and automation

This area focuses on making the journey into and through different stages of applying for and receiving entitlements and support that people are eligible for, simpler and less burdensome. It will improve accessibility, identify where processes can be simplified, and explore where automation or linked-entitlement approaches can reduce unnecessary applications, repeated evidence requests and avoidable administrative burdens for both clients and organisations.

Measuring success

Success will not be measured by benefit take-up rates alone. This Strategy sets out clear outcomes we expect to see where a more accessible, easy to use and joined-up service is delivered. Progress will also be assessed by whether people better understand their rights, know where to turn for support, feel confident accessing services and can get help without navigating complex systems alone.

Teams delivering activity under the Strategy will be expected to consider how their work contributes to these outcomes and, where appropriate, gather evidence to demonstrate progress and impact. This may include monitoring information, operational data, service performance information, evaluation findings, stakeholder feedback, lived experience and client insight.

Where new approaches, services or pilots are developed, monitoring and evaluation arrangements will be agreed as part of implementation planning. Progress will be reported through future benefit take-up publications, alongside take-up estimates where robust data is available, and will be used to inform learning and improvement over the lifetime of the Strategy.