Meeting of the Parliament 07 February 2024
We have transformed social security provision in Scotland. We have established a radically different system that is based on dignity, fairness and respect. That system is now an integral part of the social contract between the Scottish Government and the people of Scotland. We have achieved that despite our fixed budgets and the limited powers of devolution.
We are making that safety net for the people of Scotland even stronger through record investment, but all the while, the United Kingdom Government is steadily dismantling the welfare system across the UK and enforcing a sanctions regime that is punishing the most vulnerable people in our society.
In 2024-25, we are committing a record £6.3 billion for benefits expenditure—that is £1.1 billion more than the UK Government gives to the Scottish Government for social security, which demonstrates our commitment to tackling poverty. The Scottish Fiscal Commission forecasts that that figure will rise.
That is essential collective investment in a system from which we may all need help at any time in our lives. The money goes directly to people who need it most in the current cost of living crisis, and it is happening because of the deliberate budget choices that we have made in our national mission on equality, opportunity and community.
This morning, I was at Ibrox primary school hearing from parents who now automatically get early learning and school-age best start grants without the need for a separate application process. That money makes an immediate difference to their daily lives. Furthermore, we are delivering that investment against a backdrop of continued austerity at Westminster, catastrophic cuts to the Scotland block grant and a UK Government autumn statement that was the worst-case scenario for Scotland.
Our Barnett funding, which is driven by UK spending choices, has fallen by 1.2 per cent in real terms since the 2022-23 budget was presented, and the UK Government did not inflation proof its capital budget, which has resulted in a nearly 10 per cent real-terms cut in our capital funding over the medium term. However, as a part of our social contract here in Scotland, and in recognition of the cost of living crisis, we are uprating all Scottish benefits in line with inflation by 6.7 per cent in April.
Benefit expenditure is our single biggest increase in the 2024-25 budget, and it will support 1.2 million people in the year ahead. That means that more than one in five people in Scotland will get one or more of our broad packages of benefits, which range from helping disabled people to live full and independent lives and helping older people to heat their homes to helping low-income families with their living costs.