Scottish Child Payment Regulations 2020: supplementary scrutiny report

Recommendation 1: The Scottish Government should develop effective means of promoting both take-up and awareness of how early applications will be treated during the initial application period.

Recommendation 2: The Scottish Government should carry out a review of the effectiveness of the initial application and payment arrangements, whether as part of any wider review of the SCP or separately. This review could then inform decisions on whether to adopt an initial application phase during the roll out of future forms of social security assistance.

Recommendation 3: The Scottish Government should clarify how it will identify post-application changes of circumstances during the initial application period, including whether, or in what circumstances, applicants will be expected to report any changes of circumstances to Social Security Scotland. The Scottish Government should also clarify how it will deal with over-or underpayments that result from errors in this process.

Recommendation 4: The Scottish Government should consider amending the Regulations to include a method of differentiating between multiple SCP applications in respect of the same child during the initial application period, where draft Regulation 3 does not already do so. How competing applications will be treated in this period should be made clear to applicants and advice providers.

Recommendation 5: The Scottish Government should consider setting a date for the automatic repeal of Regulations relating to the transitional provisions.