Annual Report for year ended 2025-26

Over the past 12 months, we have undertaken one of our busiest periods of scrutiny since the Commission was established in 2019. This reflects both the continued development of the Scottish social security system beyond the safe and secure transfer of claimants from the UK systems, as well as the volume of social security regulations brought before the Scottish Parliament. Under our remit for pre-legislative scrutiny, we reviewed almost all of these regulations before they were laid in Parliament.

The regulations covered a wide range of issues. Our scrutiny work highlighted both the increasing complexity of Scottish social security legislation and the close relationship between devolved and reserved benefits. In some cases, we reviewed multiple versions of the same regulations as policy developed during the scrutiny process. Throughout this period, we have taken a flexible and adaptable approach to ensure we have been able to deliver timely and effective scrutiny.

We also looked at the people’s experience of the Scottish social security system, using the expectations laid out in the social security Charter. Our report of the experiences of people with communication difficulties was published in March 2025, and we commissioned research to look at the experiences of people for whom English isn’t their first language, and the experiences of people who want to challenge a decision about their award of Adult Disability Payment. We will be publishing the findings from these research projects in June 2026.

Our work continues to draw on the Commission’s broad expertise in social security, law, public policy and lived experience. During the year, we expanded our engagement with stakeholders to help ensure our scrutiny reflects people’s experiences of the Scottish social security system. We worked closely with officials in the Scottish Government and Social Security Scotland to understand both the policy intent behind regulations and the operational processes that support the delivery of benefits. We also engaged with the Scottish Parliament to support wider scrutiny of the social security system. We are grateful to everyone who has contributed their time, expertise and experience to support our work over the past year and look forward to continuing to work with you in 2026-27.

This annual report is the first annual report we have published that has not been subject to external audit. Accordingly, our annual report is more streamlined than previous iterations and more focussed on the progress we have made against our strategic objectives set out in our 2025–26 business plan.

We look forward to continuing our work during 2026–27. The Commission will continue to provide independent, expert scrutiny to support the development of a Scottish social security system that works effectively for the people who rely on it.

Ed Pybus, Chair, Scottish Commission on Social Security