Referral of the draft Scottish Child Payment Regulations 2020 to SCoSS for scrutiny

Dear Dr Witcher,

I am pleased to formally submit to the Scottish Commission on Social Security the draft Scottish Child Payment regulations for your consideration as part of the ‘super-affirmative’ procedure outlined in section 97 of the Social Security (Scotland) Act.

The Scottish Government published today a policy position paper which was informed by impact assessment work undertaken over the summer and provides more detail of the policy and delivery for the Scottish Child Payment. This is available online: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-child-payment-updated-position-paper/

I hope this will be helpful to your considerations, alongside the first policy position paper which provides an overview of the new payment, published on 26 June: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-government-position-paper-scottish-child-payment/pages/3/

As the papers detail, a key consideration in developing the Scottish Child Payment has been the need to move quickly, and introduce payments in a safe and secure manner. That speed of introduction has determined both our legislative route, and the need to build upon existing functionality within Social Security Scotland, utilising what was developed for Best Start Foods and the Best Start Grant. This means that some elements of the payment – such as the qualifying benefits – will be fixed. The position paper published today provides more detail on this. It is possible that amendments may be made to the draft regulations as we undertake further work on the design of the benefit, in line with our agile ways of working and the pace of delivery. My officials will continue to engage with you on this and I understand will attend meetings of SCoSS in October and November in order to discuss the payment in more detail.

Further to your discussion with officials, I have attached details of the stakeholder engagement that has taken place since the announcement on 26 June, and also planned further engagement to inform the development of the Payment and the impact assessments.

It is our intention to share draft copies of these impact assessments with SCoSS by the end of October.

I have also notified the Convener of the Social Security Committee that our proposals have been submitted to the Commission.

I look forward to receiving your report in due course.

Yours sincerely,

SHIRLEY-ANNE SOMERVILLE