Social Security Scotland benefits payments system: FOI release

Information requested

You asked:
Considering that a fully functional National Insurance system already exists and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) pays from an existing system, if the Scottish Social Security system will run in conjunction with the existing DWP system using the same I.D. protocol (National Insurance), or if it is a brand new clean sheet system from the ground up and if so why.

Response

The answer to your question is:
Social Security Scotland manages and makes decisions about benefit payments via its own Case Management System, not from one of the existing DWP systems.  This is because devolved benefits and the rules Social Security Scotland applies to make decisions about benefit payments are different to DWP.  We are using National Insurance number as an identifier for clients. Alongside this we are using DWP’s Central Payment System (CPS) which also uses National Insurance number as a client identifier.

About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.