Social security - cross-border amendment and case transfer revocation: Equality and Fairer Scotland Duty impact assessments considerations

Understanding cross-border clients’ context

We expect about 260 cross-border clients per month. These clients may have limited support, and limited knowledge of where to seek support in Scotland. They may have limited routes of contacting Social Security Scotland (e.g. no internet connection enabled) and difficulties gathering identity documents and supporting information during/after moving. Other simultaneous transitions may be occurring e.g. change of personal circumstances, age related change (e.g. moving to pension age). As a result, they may not prioritise reporting a change of address to the DWP/DfC and making a new application for a Social Security Scotland benefit. From the data on clients receiving Child Disability Payment and making a cross border move between 07/07/23 and 08/05/24, we found that:

• 25% of clients reported within 2 weeks after the move;
• 37% of clients reported between 2 and 6 weeks after the move;
• 18% reported between 6 and 13 weeks after the move; and
• 20% reported after 13 weeks after the move.

Of those clients reporting a change of address later than 13 weeks from the date of their move, 53% reported by 18 weeks.