Recommendation 67

HM Government · verbatim extract Deferred

DWP delivers reserved benefits in Scotland and is temporarily delivering some devolved benefits under Agency Agreements on behalf of the Scottish Ministers. We will continue to ensure benefits are delivered effectively with appropriate sign-posting. These initiatives include: • DWP, in partnership with the Scottish Government, has developed a toolkit for Work Coaches to signpost people towards Scottish Government benefits administered by Social Security Scotland. • Links between GOV.UK and MYGOV.SCOT ensure cohesion between services for people when looking for the right benefits online. The first UK Government regular-payment benefit to be replaced by Scottish Government provision is Disability Living Allowance for children, which was replaced by the Child Disability Payment initially in Dundee City, Perth and Kinross and Western Isles from 26th July 2021 (applications for children living elsewhere in Scotland will open in Autumn 2021). • DWP and the Social Security Scotland have recently established a regular Operational Reference Group to look at ways to continuously improve the benefit experience of DWP and Social Security Scotland’s shared customers. The Group will review service delivery issues arising from people looking to access DWP/ Social Security Scotland benefits and consider any improvements for future benefit delivery. DWP staff in Scotland are focused on delivering a user-centred service. They have access to, and are fully aware of, the DWP Customer Charter and the Scottish Social Security Charter. With respect to the Joint Ministerial Working Group on Welfare, it is co-chaired by the Secretary of State for Scotland and the relevant Cabinet Secretary in the Scottish Government, and attended by DWP Ministers, with the primary purpose of allowing Ministers to oversee, engage with and review progress on the implementation of the devolution of social security powers1 set out in the Scotland Act 2016. Its role is not operational. The Scottish Government welcomes the Committee’s recommendation that the Department for Work and Pensions and Social Security Scotland work together to promote take-up of all benefits across Scotland. As you know we have a duty within the Social Security Act to promote take up of devolved benefits and have an active take- up plan. We agree that, in order to ensure that people receive all the benefits they are entitled to it is clear that a more strategic approach to promoting take-up across the UK is required and the UK Government has a responsibility to support people to claim the reserved benefits they are due. Scottish Ministers have consistently urged the Department for Work and Pensions to do more in this area, particularly in areas such as Pension Credit. As eligibility for many devolved low income benefits relies on receipt of a Department for Work and Pensions benefit, the take-up of devolved benefits is dependent on the levels of take-up of reserved benefits in Scotland. With this in mind, it is vital that jobcentre staff in Scotland are equipped to make people aware of what they are entitled to through both the reserved and devolved systems. DWP and the Social Security Scotland have recently established a regular Operational Reference Group to look at ways of continuously improving the benefits experience of DWP and Social Security Scotland’s shared customers. The Group will review service delivery issues arising from people looking to access DWP/ Social Security Scotland benefits and consider any improvements for future benefit delivery. The Scottish Government already maintains a directory of public services, including how to access all available reserved and devolved benefits and grants, this can be found at www.mygov.scot and is maintained to ensure accuracy. In addition to this, the Scottish Government works to ensure that Social Security Scotland provides stakeholders who produce guidance, and organisations which manage benefit calculators, with information in a timely fashion which meets their editorial deadlines, so that existing external resources are as up to date as possible. As part of our scoping work for signposting and referrals we are also looking at existing resources and how services interact both locally and nationally – with the aim of complimenting and not duplicating what already exists. We have invested more than £3 million over two years to embed welfare rights advisors in 150 GP surgeries in Scotland’s most deprived areas, and have committed £1.5 million to trialling similar embedded approaches to advice in education settings. In doing so, we increase the routes through which people can access advice, using an approach which has been proven to reach those who have not engaged with traditional advice services. This is in addition to our existing commitment to invest morethan £12 million in welfare and debt advice services in 2021–22. In terms of advocacy, we are nearing the completion of a large-scale procurement process to establish a comprehensive free advocacy service for all clients of Social Security Scotland who require assistance to communicate as a result of having a disability. This has been supported by a stakeholder working group comprising advocacy providers and membership organisations, whose input will continue to be central to delivery of the service and alignment with the sector. Currently, we are running roadshows to provide information to organisations about the Child Disability Payment. The feedback so far has been overwhelming positive.We will continue to provide updates and information to organisations with regular cascades, as well as ensuring internal colleagues are aware of this information, ensuring consistent messaging until we have a longer term solution inplace. We will also shortly introduce in the Child Disability Payment areas ahead of nationwide rollout , our new Local Delivery service which will be able to answer queries about Scottish benefits, help to complete paper or online applications, and be available online, on the phone and alsoface-to-face. The Scottish Government also provides the majority of funding for the Child Poverty Action Group’s (CPAG) second-tier welfare rights advice service and training. In 2020–21, CPAG provided advice to staff in 445 different agencies. In 2021–22 we have granted CPAG up to £675,000 to continue the service’s operation, and in March 2021 we published analysis which outlined its value to the wider advice and advocacy sector in Scotland.2 We also note there is an existing resource - Welfare Benefits & TaxCredits Handbook, 2021/22 | CPAG – which is widely used.