Social Security Programme 2017-2026: Delivery Report
This delivery report outlines work carried out by the Scottish Government’s 2017-2026 Social Security Programme to build Scotland’s new devolved benefits system
Financial Outturn
In the February 2023 business case update we set out a Programme implementation investment figure of £600 million, and an Agency implementation figure of £115.5 million, totalling £715 million across the nine financial years from 2017-2018 to 2025-2026 to develop and deliver the services and systems to enable Social Security Scotland to deliver over £7 billion of demand-led benefits each year. This investment will shape and support the delivery of social security into the future.
At the closure of the Social Security Programme, we will have invested around £567 million on Programme implementation. The total implementation costs across Programme and Agency are estimated to be around £683 million for the period 2017-2018 to 2025-2026, a saving of around 5% on the figure set out in the February 2023 business case.
The table below shows the current forecast of investment expenditure across Programme and Agency.
| £ million | Pre 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Programme implementation investment | 344.9 | 92.8 | 67.5 | 30.7 | 31.1 | 567.1 |
| Agency implementation investment | 31.8 | 29.0 | 21.0 | 17.5 | 16.2 | 115.5 |
| Total | 376.7 | 121.8 | 88.5 | 48.2 | 47.3 | 682.6 |
The graph below shows the comparison between the latest forecast and the 2023 business case for total implementation investment.
A cumulative total line chart displaying implementation investment in millions of pounds, labeled with ‘£ million’ and a title ‘Cumulative Total Implementation Investment’ across a grey background. This chart compares two metrics of implementation investment with lines on a graph that span from 2018-19 to 2025-26 on the horizontal x-axis and investment from 0 to 800 £ million in increments of 100 £ million on the vertical y-axis. The data is as follows:
A blue line representing ‘2023 Refreshed business case’ starts at approximately 50 £ million in 2018-19, rising through each subsequent year: 100, 200, 300, 500, 600, 675, to end at 715.4 £ million in 2025-26. This data is labeled at 2025-26 with ‘715.4’ £ million.
A dark blue line representing ‘2026 Forecast’ starts at approximately 50 £ million in 2018-19, rising through each subsequent year: 100, 200, 300, 475, 580, 625, to end at 682.6 £ million in 2025-26. This data is labeled at 2025-26 with ‘682.6’ £ million.
There is a legend on the mid-to-lower-right corner with a grey background and borders in a rectangular shape with blue text ‘2023 Refreshed business case’ next to a blue horizontal line and ‘2026 Forecast’ next to a dark blue horizontal line.