Social Security (Cross-border Provision, Case Transfer and Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2025: island communities impact assessment
Consideration of the impacts on island communities made by the proposed improvements we plan to implement through the draft Social Security (Cross-border Provision, Case Transfer and Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2025.
1. Step One – Develop a clear understanding of your objectives
These regulations will amend the Child Disability Payment (CDP), Adult Disability Payment (ADP), Pension Age Disability Payment (PADP) and Carer Support Payment (CSP) regulations so that people moving to Scotland from the rest of the UK who have been in receipt of a corresponding benefit from the Department for Work and Pensions (England and Wales) or the Department for Communities (Northern Ireland) will need to make a new application for a corresponding Social Security Scotland benefit. Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance (Scottish Adult DLA) regulations will also be amended to provide for awards to be made for eligible adults who move to Scotland from the rest of the UK while in receipt of DLA. Currently, clients in this position will have their DWP/DfC benefits transferred to Social Security Scotland benefit automatically after their move to Scotland. This will not be possible once the case transfer of benefits has completed, as the technical functionality to share information between the different government departments will no longer be available.
Anyone who moves to Scotland and notifies Scottish Ministers of their move before these regulations come into force, can still be transferred without needing to make a new application.
DWP will also amend their legislation so that clients who move to Scotland will have their DWP benefit paid for 13 weeks from the date of the move. This aims to avoid gaps in payments and gives clients time to make a new application for a Scottish benefit. This process is already in place for clients in receipt of Child Disability Living Allowance (cDLA), where the case transfer to CDP has already been completed. For CDP, there is currently a clerical cross-border process in place for moving from rest of the UK to Scotland while in receipt of cDLA. It is not possible to scale up this for the other benefits and DWP are not able to support the current solution long-term, which is why CDP will also require a new application.
We have defined cross-border clients as individuals who submit their name and date of birth within 26 weeks of the date of move and complete the full application within 32 or 34 weeks of the date of move. The additional 6 weeks for CDP and 8 weeks for other disability benefits reflect the time period allowed to complete part two of an application for disability benefits and aligns with the time provided for new applications. For CSP, which does not have a two-part application process, it is those who submit a full application within 26 weeks of a move. Clients in this position will be able to have their awards begin from the day after the end of entitlement date of their previous award. Those who don’t meet that period will be treated in the same way as those making fresh applications.
These regulations will also revoke case transfer provisions for the above benefits. The case transfer provisions will still apply for anyone who has already started the case transfer journey when these regulations come into force. Where someone should have had their award transferred but they were not identified before these regulations come into force, the regulations create a means of backdating entitlement to Scottish benefits after application to minimise any financial impacts to the applicant.
Suspension related amendments will also be made to CDP, ADP, PADP, Scottish Adult DLA and Scottish Child Payment (SCP) regulations. These will ensure that where a person has continually disengaged with requests for information from Social Security Scotland and is no longer entitled to assistance after suspension, their award can be ended on the date their award was suspended. This will apply to both scheduled reviews and determinations following a change of circumstances being reported, where an individual has continued to not engage with a request for information under section 54 of the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018. This will mean that no payment is due to the individual for the period of suspension.
This instrument will also amend the provisions in CSP regulations regarding when entitlement to support can begin and temporary stops in entitlement. It will also be used to make other miscellaneous amendments, primarily to residence and presence conditions, to update references to international social security coordination agreements and to revoke provisions relating to the initial period of applications.
The National Performance Framework measures and keeps track of how Scotland is performing. It aims to reduce inequalities and gives equal importance to economic, environmental and social progress. It sets out national outcomes, which describe the kind of country the Scottish Government aims to create. The Social Security (Cross-border Provision, Case Transfer and Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2025 will positively contribute to the following National Outcomes: [1]
- Children and Young People: We grow up loved, safe and respected so that we realise our full potential
- Communities: We live in communities that are inclusive, empowered, resilient and safe
- Health: We are healthy and active
- Poverty: We tackle poverty by sharing opportunities, wealth and power more equally
The intended impacts and outcomes of this policy is unlikely to be significantly different between individual island communities or, between island communities and non-island communities throughout Scotland. However, the Scottish Government will update this impact assessment if new information becomes available, and if necessary, mitigations or measures will be put in place.
Contact
Email: ceu@gov.scot