By Professor John Robertson OBA

Today, BBC Reporting Scotland Down has the above story on disability payments in Scotland. As always there’s no context so that the narrative can remain pure – critical of the Scottish Government.

What is the most important recent historical fact in disability payments in the UK? This:

A leading disability rights charity has described new suicide statistics as the “tragic face of systemic inequality”. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggested disabled people had the highest rate of dying by suicide compared to other groups. It found 48 disabled men per 100,000 people and 19 disabled women ended their lives, compared to 16 non-disabled men and five women.¹

There are no comparable data for Scotland that I can find but when these benefits were devolved to the Scottish Parliament, how did the Scottish Government proceed?

When Social Security Scotland was formed in 2018, the aim was to deliver a benefits system that was different to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), one with the principles of dignity, fairness and respect at its core. We worked with disabled people and their families to create a better system, one rooted in our unique human rights approach.

We now provide 14 benefits, including Child Disability Payment and Adult Disability Payment. These provide financial support for people with a disability or long-term health condition that affects their everyday life. Some of the benefits we provide are unique to Scotland and more are on the way. Unlike the DWP, we do not use private sector assessments. Instead, the aim is to make a decision based on the application and supporting information. Today, an application for disability benefits goes on a very different journey at Social Security Scotland than it would at the DWP.²

What has been the result of this approach?

From Strathclyde University researchers in November 2024:

The roll out of Adult Disability Payment in Scotland started in March 2022, and within a year all but a handful of new awards were being made through ADP rather than PIP. The start of the rise in awards predates the rollout of ADP, but there is a clear acceleration in new awards post ADP rollout in 2023. The gradual upwards trend in awards starting in 2021 was also evident in the England and Wales data. However, the acceleration post ADP rollout led to a divergence from March 2023 with much higher rates of awarded applications in Scotland relative to England and Wales. This lasted until March 2024. Since then we have seen a convergence followed by an increase in awards in England and Wales.³

So, Scotland’s more respectful, less stressful approach led to a surge but then convergence with the levels in England & Wales.

Is this increase an unaffordable culture of ‘money-for-nothing’ of the kind Scottish Labour now despises?

From the Institute for Fiscal Studies in November 2024:

Following a bulge in claims, recent figures suggest new disability benefits may not pose as big a cost to the Scottish Budget 2024 as first feared.⁴

Sources:

1. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/disability-64889570
2. https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/news-events/news/delivering-dignity-fairness-and-respect
3. https://pureportal.strath.ac.uk/en/publications/new-awards-of-disability-benefits-for-adults-comparing-scotland-w
4. https://ifs.org.uk/articles/what-has-happened-disability-benefits-scotland-update