Minimum Income Guarantee report: SG response

Ministerial Foreword

Firstly, I know the members of the independent Expert Group dedicated a lot of time to develop the proposal for a Minimum Income Guarantee in Scotland. Thank you to every member of the Expert Group for your time and expertise to draw together this Roadmap. I am also extremely grateful to the Experts by Experience Panel, for their meaningful contribution to the work of the Expert Group. Their lived experience has clearly been a positive contribution and has strengthened the development of this work.

‘The Minimum Income Guarantee: a roadmap to dignity for all’ offers a number of positive ideas towards a fairer society for the people of Scotland. The research published alongside the report - an intersectional analysis of the work of the Expert Group, framing a Minimum Income Guarantee, how to pay for a Minimum Income Guarantee, and the economic impacts of a Minimum Income Guarantee - offered a wide range of evidence that we have considered alongside the Roadmap.

The people of Scotland want a future which is fairer, one where every person and every community has the opportunity to flourish. We want that too, which is why tackling poverty and inequality is a top priority for us as a government. Through policies such as Whole Family Support, Scottish Child Payment and the planned mitigation of the two-child limit, we have already made significant progress in Scotland, and I am pleased that this was recognised in the Expert Group’s report. As a result of our decisions, Scotland is the only part of the UK seeing poverty levels fall.

We are consistently thwarted in our efforts to go further by UK Government policies and the limits of the powers devolved to us. We have consistently called on the UK Government to deliver progress toward an Essentials Guarantee and to abolish punitive welfare policies, like the benefit cap, and we will continue to make the case for this much needed investment.

As set out in our Public Service Reform Strategy, we are committed to changing our model of service delivery to enable families to access the support they need when they need it, to ensure services are person-centred, place based and preventative, bringing together all of our resources to work with children and families to enable them to thrive. We are committed to delivering Whole Family Support and through this, improving outcomes for families and communities across Scotland.

Having effective services, access to fair work and a reliable social security system can, and do, have a transformative impact on people’s lives. The Expert Group have laid out where they believe more needs to be done in Scotland across these areas. Our response sets out what actions we are actively taking to transform the lives of people across Scotland and making progress towards our shared ambition: a Scotland that has accessible public services, an improved and reliable safety net, where people feel fulfilled and are able to participate fully in society. It also makes it clear where the UK Government must act, to improve the provision of support to families living in poverty and to abandon their proposed harmful cuts to social security.

Sustainable public finances are fundamental to achieving our four central priorities. Our investment in the people of Scotland is a conscious decision to ensure that everyone has the support where and when they need it.

As we are approaching the next Scottish Parliament elections in May 2026 future governments should also reflect on the Expert Group’s Roadmap.

Shirley-Anne Somerville, Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice