Scotland's benefits agency spends over £1 million on car hire as costs soar 700%
The Social Security Scotland bill for hire cars has soared to more than £1 million since the devolution of disability benefits
Scotland’s benefits agency spent more than £1 million on rental cars after the organisation’s hire costs soared more than 700 per cent.
Figures show Social Security Scotland (SSS) shelled out £1,166,126 on vehicles in the three years after disability benefits were devolved.
Prior to the launch of Adult Disability Payment (ADP), the spend was around £60,000 over three years.
Cars are used so staff can travel to claimants’ homes and help them fill out benefits application forms.
In some cases, cars and vans are hired to carry out covert surveillance on suspected benefits cheats.
Local delivery officers travel to claimants to help them make benefit applications and give them advice.
This can be at their homes or in a community venue, in hospital or in prison.
By contrast, the DWP limits home visits to specific categories of claimant, such as those with additional support needs or without family or carers to help them.
More than 6,300 cars were hired by SSS during the past two years, with an average of around 240 rentals costing £37,000 every month.
The SNP’s benefits agency pointed out this was less than £6 a day, saying the spend represents value for money in parts of Scotland where public transport is limited.
READ MORE:‘Open to abuse’ - concerns as fewer that 1% of disability claims are checked by specialist staff
However, Craig Hoy, Scottish Conservative finance and social security spokesman, said: “Taxpayers will rightly be asking why the SNP’s benefits agency has racked up a rental car bill of almost £1m in just two years.
“The SNP need to explain exactly what these vehicles were being used for and why they believed this represented good value for money.
“At a time when families are watching every penny, ministers cannot expect the public to accept these payments, especially when the SNP’s benefits bill is soaring.
“This is yet another example of the SNP needing to justify how they are spending taxpayers’ hard-earned money.”
In the year prior to the launch of ADP, car hire cost £25,647.
The following year the figure soared 728 per cent to £212,368 and has risen further in the years since.
Social Security Scotland spent £5.87 billion on payments to 1.9 million claimants in 2025/26, an increase from £3.58bn the year before.
ADP accounted for more than half of the spend.
The benefit was devolved from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) - where it is Personal Independence Payment (PIP) - in 2022 as part of a significant expansion of Scotland’s benefits system.
Auditors have warned that the gap between the cost of the SNP’s more generous benefits system and the DWP will reach £2bn by the end of this decade.
In December the Scotsman revealed SSS had found only 29 fraudulent claims in the previous two-and-a-half years.
A Social Security Scotland spokesman said: “All of our fraud investigations follow our robust code of practice.”
He added: “We are committed to delivering value for public money; this includes transport costs.”
SSS also said that Enterprise was the “appointed supplier” of the Scottish Government Vehicle Hire Services and the contract “provides consistent pricing and service levels across participating public sector organisations.”
“Car rental for business purposes is arranged through The Scottish government Vehicle Hire Services contract,” the spokesman said.
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