SNP ministers given 'wake-up call' over projected £770m benefit funding gap
Audit Scotland said the Scottish Government’s approach ‘generates additional costs’.
SNP ministers have been urged to set out how a £770 million disability benefit funding gap will be addressed in the coming years, in what has been branded a “wake-up call”.
Audit Scotland said the Scottish Government’s approach to adult disability payment (ADP), which replaces the personal independence payment (Pip) in Scotland, “generates additional costs”.
The Government spent £2.6 billion on ADP and Pip payments in 2023/24 - £141m more than the funding available to it. This gap is forecast to rise to £770m by 2029/30, contributing to a larger funding gap for devolved social security spending of £2bn.
“The Scottish Government has not yet set out a detailed strategy for how it will manage the forecast gap between social security funding and spending within its overall budget,” the watchdog said.
“Furthermore, the Scottish Government does not have a clear strategy in place to manage risks arising from any UK decisions on benefit spending that could reduce the size of the Scottish budget.”
Scottish Conservative social security spokesman Alexander Stewart said the report “should be a wake-up call to SNP ministers to get a grip of their ballooning benefits bill”.
He said: “Audit Scotland have made it clear that the nationalists are burying their heads in the sand when it comes to how they will afford this in the coming years.
“SNP ministers are so wedded to their approach of doing things differently when it comes to the welfare system that they have typically given no thought to the ever-increasing funding gap created by their higher spending on benefits.
“Economic experts have made it clear that if the SNP don’t act on this, then hard-pressed Scots will face more tax rises or cuts to public services.”
Scottish Labour finance spokesman Michael Marra said the watchdog’s report “lays bare the reckless financial incompetence of this SNP Government”.
He said: “It is right that we build a social security system that works for people, but those aims are meaningless without a plan to pay for it or a way to monitor success.”
Stephen Boyle, the Auditor General for Scotland, described ADP as a lifeline for thousands of Scots.
“It is also the clearest example of how the Scottish Government’s commitment to making the social security process less onerous has come at a cost,” he said.
“Given that the gap between available funding and ADP spending is forecast to grow significantly, the Scottish Government needs to set out how the gap will be managed over the medium term and how this will impact on the lives of disabled people.”
Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “I welcome this report and I am pleased it recognises that we have successfully transferred the personal independence payment awards of everyone in Scotland to adult disability payment, a system that is underpinned by dignity, fairness and respect.
“Benefit expenditure is the result of our conscious decision to invest in the people of Scotland. Here, when somebody is eligible for support, they meet a humane system.
“Our efforts are possible because we balance our budget every year despite over a decade of austerity and punitive welfare cuts from successive UK governments.”
Ms Somerville added: “The Scottish Government will unapologetically continue to prioritise measures to reduce poverty and inequality, including through policies like the Scottish Child Payment and our plans to eradicate the two-child limit next year.”
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