Universal Credit Scottish Choices – management information to March 2026

As UC is reserved to the UK Government, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) delivers the UC Scottish choices on behalf of the Scottish Government, with all costs associated with delivery met by the Scottish Government.

The DWP provides the Scottish Government with management information on UC Scottish choices on an irregular basis, including the numbers of offers that were made and accepted.

Throughout this document, UC claimants are referred to as clients.

The Scottish Government have received data covering 4 October 2017 to 31 March 2026. However, the earliest date that the UC Scottish choices were offered was 11 November 2017 to clients not required to serve the seven waiting days (such exemptions are set out by the DWP) and from 18 November 2017 to those who were subject to the waiting days. In the early years of the scheme, UC provision was still being rolled out across Scotland, and this limited the availability of the scheme.

There are a number of ways a UC client in Scotland can choose one or both UC Scottish choices:

• New clients – offered as a to-do (a digital notification of a potential, non-mandatory action) and accepted offer.
• New clients – requested offer via other channel, e.g. phone, face to face. This can be prior to UC Scottish choices being offered formally. As standard, the UC Scottish choices are offered at the start of the second assessment period following a new claim to UC, or a transfer from UC live service to full service. However, it is possible to request the choices before they are offered
• Existing clients – requested offer via other channel.

Not all UC clients in Scotland are eligible for the UC Scottish choices. As part of the first UC assessment period, DWP identifies if a person in receipt of UC has any vulnerabilities or complex needs, for example, substance misuse or mental health problems. This may then lead to them being supported through an Alternative Payment Arrangements (APA). Options for APAs include more frequent payments; direct payments of housing costs to landlords; and split payments of the UC award between members of a household. UC Scottish choices are offered as part of the second UC assessment period, which is generally at least 5 weeks from when people apply for UC, and is after DWP have decided whether to put an APA in place. Those who already have an APA in place are not eligible, and therefore do not receive an offer, for UC Scottish choices.

Some UC clients are only eligible for one of the UC Scottish choices. This could be because they already have an APA in place, or because they do not receive the housing element of UC, and therefore, are not offered direct payments to landlord.

Once clients have taken up one or both of the UC Scottish choices they are able to cancel their choice at any time and revert back to their previous payment method.

An evaluation of UC Scottish choices was published in March 2021 and can be found here: Universal Credit Scottish choices: evaluation - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)