Social Justice and Social Security Committee 18 September 2025
This is a disappointing part of the regulations that I am presenting today. The priority for the Scottish Government was to make the journey for a client as smooth as possible. From our discussions with constituents, we all know that it is a complex system and that people might be unaware that, for example, they might have to move to a different benefit when they move from England to Scotland or vice versa. We had hoped to make the process easy for clients, as we did during case transfer. Unfortunately, the DWP has chosen not to take that route. If we cannot get the data from the DWP, we cannot have that kind of process. That is disappointing, because it makes the journey more difficult for the client. As I said in my opening remarks, we have endeavoured to put processes in place, which we would like to introduce if the regulations are passed, to support clients through the process as best we can and ensure that cases are prioritised within the agency. The situation is far from ideal, but, given that that is our starting point, we have done what we can to make the process smoother.