Question reference: S6W-26935
- Asked by: Elena Whitham, MSP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 19 April 2024
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Current status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 2 May 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking to address any long waiting times for applications to Social Security Scotland, in light of reports that nine children have died while waiting for an application for the Child Disability Payment to be processed.
Answer
Our thoughts are with the families and friends of those who sadly died before a decision could be made on their application.
We know some people waited an unacceptably long time for Child Disability Payment and urgent action was taken to address this resulting in improved processing times.
We aim to process all applications as quickly as possible and have an accelerated application process for people who have a terminal illness diagnoses. We urge anyone who is applying on behalf of a terminally ill child or young person to use this dedicated route and ensure their application is given utmost priority.
While we cannot comment on individual cases, there are a number of factors that impact on how long it takes to make a decision including the time taken to gather information to support an application from a professional such as teachers or health care practitioners. This can take time – but under the DWP, people had to do this themselves – and we know people greatly value this service.