Contractors employed by Social Security: FOI release

Information requested

• Details of any contractors employed by Social Security Scotland since 2018, a breakdown of the cost, and an overview of the purpose for each contractor
• The total cost of employing contractors in each financial year
• The total [cost] of employing permanent staff in each financial year

Response

Contractors and Interim Workers are appointed through the frameworks currently in place for Temporary Admin, Catering and Manual Services, Interim Professional Staff Services, and Interim IT Staff Services. Contractors and Interim Workers are appointed for various reasons, including the requirement for a specialist skillset to undertake a particular project over a specified timeframe, and to support in the payment of seasonal benefits.

The cost to the Agency of employing Permanent Staff and Interim Workers is available in our published Annual Reports each year which are available here:

https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/publications

By way of assistance, this information is also provided in the table below. “Interim Workers” in the below table includes both contractors and Interim Workers.
 

Financial Year	Permanent Staff (£m)	Interim Workers (£m)
2018-19 (7 months)	6.0	0.7
2019-20	19.7	2.5
2020-21	36.3	6.0
2021-22 [note 1]	71.9	19.8
2022-23 to 31 August [note 2]	56.1	6.7

[note 1] The Chief Digital Office transferred from the Scottish Government and became a division of Social Security Scotland on 1 April 2021. All permanent staff and contractors within the Chief Digital Office became part of Social Security Scotland at that time.

[note 2] Figures from 1 April 2022 to 31 August 2022 are unaudited and are therefore subject to change, and the total figure for the financial year 2022-23 will change as more information becomes available.

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.