Organisations ‘disappointed’ by lack of clarity and no pledge to uprate payments in bill to enact newly devolved powers

Leading anti-poverty groups have expressed concerns about the Scottish government’s plans for newly devolved welfare powers, as the bill to enact them reaches its first debate stage in Holyrood.

In one of the most complex programmes of change since devolution, the powers give Holyrood the opportunity to top up existing payments or create new ones and will account for about £2.7bn of the Scottish benefits bill, with the rest still controlled by Westminster.

Eleven benefits are being wholly transferred, including disability living allowance and personal independence payments. The government has also pledged to establish a Scottish social security agency before the next Scottish parliament election in 2020 to work in parallel with the UK system.

In a briefing to MSPs seen by the Guardian, Poverty Alliance acknowledged the scale of the logistical challenge facing the government, but pointed to elements missing from the bill, which will be debated for the first time on Tuesday afternoon.

The group said it was “very disappointed” by the lack of clarity in the bill as to how the power to top up reserved benefits will be used and “extremely disappointed” that there is no commitment to uprating payments, given the freeze on working-age benefits across the UK. It pointed out that there is no recognition of the power to create new benefits in areas of devolved responsibility.

Many of the concerns relate to which changes are included in primary legislation and subject to parliamentary scrutiny, and which are left to secondary legislation or regulations.

Bill Scott of the disability rights group Inclusion Scotland said: “The route that the government has gone down is an enabling bill with detail in the regulations.

“There is a balance to be struck, especially with a new system, and we think that the balance is wrong and there are some crucial elements that we would like to see in the bill, for example uprating and overpayments that aren’t recoverable.”

There is particular disquiet about the extent to which the detail of new benefits is being left to regulations, rather than included within primary legislation, which could make it easier for subsequent governments to cut payments or change eligibility criteria. As it stands, Poverty Alliance said, the bill lacks “essential future-proofing to ensure that people can rely on benefits”.

Another briefing note from Child Poverty Action Group Scotland said there was a strong case for the creation of a statutory body to undertake independent expert scrutiny. The Scottish government has previously agreed there is a need for independent scrutiny, but has yet to commit to making it statutory.

In its 2016 Scottish election manifesto, the SNP committed to “end the degrading DWP [Department for Work and Pensions] approach to disability assessments”.

Campaigners said they were “extremely disappointed” the bill does not rule out the use of private sector contractors in the delivery of social security in Scotland.

Poverty Alliance said: “This is something that has been highlighted by our activists repeatedly throughout the consultation process on social security, and particularly by those with disabilities.”

The Scottish government has said it does not want to completely stop using the private sector, for example in areas such as IT equipment, but campaigners say unless this is ruled out in legislation it could be open to abuse in future.

A Scottish government spokesperson said: “We have sought to ensure that there will be detailed consultation on the regulations for each benefit and have committed to an independent scrutiny body and to a requirement on ministers to consult with it before making any changes.

“We are looking to amend the bill in a number of areas so that we can ensure that it delivers a new Scottish social security system with dignity and respect at its heart.

“We have already made a public commitment to annually uprate disability assistance. We will also increase the value of carer’s allowance to the same rate as jobseeker’s allowance for those who receive this in Scotland through the carer’s allowance supplement, which will be paid from summer 2018.”

