Pension Age Winter Heating Payment: Fairer Scotland Duty Assessment

Monitoring and Evaluation

The Social Security (Scotland) 2018 Act established the Scottish Commission on Social Security (SCoSS), an independent expert body that scrutinises the Scottish social security system (including benefit regulations) and holds Scottish Ministers to account. Section 97(2) of the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 requires Scottish Ministers to inform the Scottish Commission on Social Security (SCoSS) of these proposals in the form of draft regulations. The Scottish Ministers provided draft regulations to SCoSS shortly before laying this draft instrument in compliance with section 97(2).

Due to the late change in policy from the UK Government, and the lack of prior consultation with the Scottish Government, this instrument must be laid as a matter of urgency in order for payments to be made on time this winter, and it has therefore not been possible to meet SCoSS requirements for the necessary time to scrutinise and publish a report on the regulations.

As such we are laying this draft instrument as well as a statement explaining why the Ministers consider it appropriate to lay the regulations under section 97(9)(b) of the Act without a report from SCoSS having been prepared. The Scottish Ministers will consider that report when it is published. SCoSS has been informed of the urgent nature of these regulations, resulting from the UK Government’s recent decision to expand eligibility to WFPs, and it is content to scrutinise the regulations retrospectively.

The Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 also required the Scottish Government to create a Charter, which sets out how the Scottish Government will uphold the principles in the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018, how we will make sure that we are taking a human rights based approach to social security and how we will demonstrate dignity, fairness and respect in all our actions. The Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 places a duty on Scottish Ministers to publish an annual report on the performance of the Scottish social security system during the previous financial year. The report is to describe what the Scottish Ministers have done in that year to meet the expectations on them set out in the Charter.

Monitoring the impact of the PAWHP will be a continuous process and where any unintended consequences are identified, we will consider what steps can be made to minimise any negative impact.

We will collate management information to monitor the characteristics of recipients and will undertake qualitative research to evaluate whether PAWHP is meeting its policy intentions. This will inform any future consideration of variations to policy or delivery arrangements.