Hansard

This legislative consent motion is in response to the UK Government’s Social Security (Special Rules for End of Life) Bill.

I appreciate that the debate was scheduled at short notice. That was due to the UK legislation being progressed rapidly. Given the extent to which the UK bill has been expedited, as well as our Parliament’s upcoming recess, a legislative consent motion is needed to ensure that we align with the UK Government’s approach. That is expected under the terms of the Scottish Government’s agency agreements with the Department for Work and Pensions.

The UK Government’s bill was introduced in the House of Lords on 11 May and serves to change the UK Government’s current definition of terminal illness for the purposes of disability benefits that are administered by the Department for Work and Pensions.

In the DWP system, currently, those who are estimated to have six months or less to live due to terminal illness can have their disability benefit applications fast-tracked, so that they can start receiving their payments more quickly. The UK Government bill will expand that definition of terminally ill to those who have less than 12 months to live, rather than six months. The UK Government expects that change to result in a widening of fast-tracked access to disability benefits for terminally ill people.

Disability living allowance, personal independence payment and attendance allowance are all affected by the UK Government bill. Provision relating to disability benefits falls within devolved competence by virtue of the Scotland Act 2016 and the amendments that the 2016 act made to the devolution settlement. Therefore, the UK Government bill that is in question today relates to devolved matters, which has triggered the requirement for an LCM.

Until we fully implement our Scottish replacements, disability living allowance, personal independence payment and attendance allowance are being delivered by the DWP—on behalf of the Scottish ministers—under an agency agreement, and there is therefore a requirement for those benefits to be administered consistently across the UK until case transfer completes, and our agency agreements with DWP cease.

Of course, adult disability payment, which replaces disability living allowance and personal independence payment in Scotland, is being rolled out in stages and is currently available in six local authority areas. Another seven areas will be added in July for new applications, ahead of full national introduction at the end of August and the on-going case transfer process. At the point of full roll-out on 29 August, when adult disability payment will be available nationally—this is an important point—anyone in Scotland who becomes terminally ill while in receipt of PIP or DLA will have their entitlement automatically transferred to Social Security Scotland and will benefit from the Scottish definition of terminal illness, which I will come on to shortly.

The UK Government bill will likely have limited impact on those who are currently in receipt of DLA or PIP in Scotland. It will impact people who are in receipt of, or who are applying for, attendance allowance ahead of the introduction of our pension age disability payment, which will replace attendance allowance in due course.

Encouragingly, the UK Government’s bill will bring the new definition of terminal illness in the UK closer to the definition that we have introduced for disability benefits in Scotland, but the UK definition will still be based on a fixed time period with regard to life expectancy. That is in contrast to the Scottish Government definition of terminal illness as part of the delivery of Scottish forms of assistance, including child disability payment and adult disability payment, which is based on clinical judgment that does not include a time limit on life expectancy. That means that people who are approaching the end of their life are more easily able to have their applications processed quickly, but with the Scottish definition.

Given what I have said, I consider a legislative consent motion to be the right course of action in order to maintain alignment with the UK Government’s legislation, as is expected under the terms of our agency agreements. Therefore, providing legislative consent is the most pragmatic and appropriate course of action.

I move,

That the Parliament agrees that the provisions of the Social Security (Special Rules for End of Life) Bill, introduced in the House of Lords on 11 May 2022, relating to Special Rules for Terminal Illness for accessing disability benefits, so far as these matters fall within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament, should be considered by the UK Parliament.