Draft Social Security (Up-rating) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2021

The Scottish Commission on Social Security (SCoSS) presents its supplementary report on revised draft Disability Assistance for Children and Young People (Scotland) Regulations.

SCoSS originally reported on draft Disability Assistance for Children and Young People (‘DACYP’) regulations on 9 March 2020 (‘the original draft regulations’). However, the original draft regulations were not laid in the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government has not yet formally responded to our scrutiny report.

The Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People formally referred the revised draft regulations to SCoSS on 29 October 2020. In doing so, the Cabinet Secretary noted that the impact of coronavirus had “posed particular challenges for our plans to deliver disability assistance” but that work had continued on developing DACYP. The Cabinet Secretary also stated that the revised draft regulations have a “particular focus on responding to the recommendations made by SCoSS”. DACYP has also been renamed as Child Disability Payment (CDP).

We expect the Scottish Government to publish its responses to this report and our original report simultaneously, at the same time that it lays the revised draft regulations in the Scottish Parliament. In making recommendations below, we cross-refer to recommendations in our original report where they are relevant but otherwise do not repeat text from that report.

Overview

The Cabinet Secretary has asked the Commission to consider a narrow range of issues arising from the redrafted provisions:

• the provisions relating to the periods for requesting and making re-determinations;
• the provisions applicable to the mobility component; and
• the provisions relating to temporary absences from home, including non-payability of assistance.

We consider these provisions in turn below, then examine other issues that have changed since SCoSS scrutinised the original draft regulations. In doing so, we have taken account of the written submissions provided to SCoSS by stakeholders on the draft regulations. We thank all those who submitted their views, particularly given the restricted timescales for doing so. The timeline of our scrutiny is contained in the Annex.