Social Security Assistance in Scotland: up-rating for inflation in 2026 - 2027

2. Background

2.1 In 2019, following consideration of evidence from a number of sources including the UK Statistics Authority, the Office for National Statistics, an independent review led by the Director of the Institute of Fiscal Studies^[6] and the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee’s report ‘Measuring Inflation’^[7], the Scottish Government recommended^[8] that the 12 months to September rate of Consumer Prices Index (CPI) is used for up-rating devolved social security assistance, with the assistance payment rounded to the nearest five pence.

2.2 Although Scottish Ministers retain the flexibility to choose the most suitable measure of inflation used to annually up-rate forms of assistance, on 29 January 2024, the Scottish Government published a report^[9] setting out further analysis of potential inflation measures available to Ministers using HM Treasury Green Book guidance. As a result of that analysis it was recommended that the 12 months to September rate of CPI remains the most suitable inflation measure for benefit up-rating.

2.3 The following sections provide detail of how the inflation-adjusted levels of assistance were calculated, what the inflation-adjusted levels of assistance would be and what the Scottish Ministers intend to do.