Recommendation 4

The delays to the rollout of the devolved benefits until 2025 are highly regrettable. Although this delay can be blamed in part on covid-19, the largest delays were announced in 2019—a delay from 2021 to 2024. The Committee regrets that the Scottish Government and Social Security Scotland have been unable to become fully operational within the originally proposed timeline. We acknowledge the organisational complexities which contribute to these delays and support greater collaborative working to resolve them. We welcome the pragmatic approach of the Scottish Government financing the DWP to administer devolved benefits, and the DWP’s cooperation to utilise agency agreements to ensure people still receive their benefits despite the delays to developing the devolved capacity. (Paragraph 51) 4 Welfare policy in Scotland