The Scottish Child Payment Amendment Regulations 2021: scrutiny report

This report provides the views of the Scottish Commission on Social Security (SCoSS) on the Scottish Child Payment Amendment Regulations 2021 (‘the amending regulations’). These seek to amend the Scottish Child Payment Regulations 2020.¹https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2020/351/made  SCoSS has already reported twice on draft Scottish Child Payment (SCP) regulations and this further report builds on that scrutiny.²SCoSS initially reported on draft SCP Regulations in January 2020. We then produced a supplementary report, in February 2020, on additional and revised provisions of the draft SCP Regulations.

In accordance with its statutory function, SCoSS’s consideration of the amending regulations took account of the Scottish social security principles and relevant provisions of human rights law.³Sections 22 and 97 of the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 describe the Commission’s pre-legislative scrutiny function. Section 97 also requires SCoSS to carry out this role with regard to the Scottish social security principles and any relevant provisions of human rights law. Our scrutiny was also informed by a briefing that Scottish Government officials provided at our board meeting in October 2020.

In referring the amending regulations to SCoSS for scrutiny⁴https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-commission-on-social-security-letters-scottish-child-payment-2019/, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People stated that they were designed to clarify the Scottish Government’s policy and delivery intent on two issues: nil awards and payment cycles. These issues are considered in turn below. We then consider how the process by which the Scottish Government develops regulations could be improved.