Thank you, convener. Good morning. I am grateful for the opportunity to engage with the committee’s inquiry and for the insights that it has already provided, which I have followed with interest.
I was delighted to lay our first benefit take-up strategy before the Parliament on 21 October 2019. The principles and initiatives that are set out in that strategy reaffirm my commitment to a Scottish social security system that actively encourages and supports people to access the financial support that they are entitled to.
Increasing take-up is about building a system that is approachable and accessible; that has easy-to-navigate application processes which are based on clear eligibility criteria; that uses transparent decision making; and that challenges stigma. In short, we should have a system that has no barriers to applying.
Our approach to social security is a rights-based one, with dignity, fairness and respect at its heart. We are in the fortunate position of having been able, from the starting point, to design those core principles into the fabric of the benefits that we deliver and into our promotion of benefits to encourage and increase take-up. That is supported by our work with experience panels, extensive user research, and close engagement with stakeholders. From the inception and development of our take-up strategy, just as in its implementation, we will continue that engagement.
Encouraging take-up is also embedded in Social Security Scotland, so that the whole system is aligned and pulling together to fulfil our aspiration to maximise the numbers of people who access support. Social Security Scotland’s communications teams are embedded in the service design process for each benefit from the start, and tailored strategic communications and marketing plans, which are based on clear user research and client insights, are produced.
The benefit take-up strategy was published on the same day on which the call for written evidence to this inquiry closed, which meant that there was no opportunity for one to inform the other. I have therefore been pleased that much of the evidence to the committee has been consistent with the Scottish Government’s approach. I will give a few examples to illustrate that.
Enable Scotland highlighted the importance of local initiatives, and Professor Paul Spicker said that outreach and human contact are likely to improve benefit take-up. Those views are very encouraging, given Social Security Scotland’s clear emphasis on local delivery and national engagement, and the reasons for our introducing our benefit take-up and income maximisation funds. The level of interest that has been shown in those funds is an indication that stakeholders want to be part of the process.
Many organisations highlighted the importance of designing application forms and processes in partnership with those who use the system. Such co-design is commonplace in everything that we do. Clear and consistent communication that is tailored to specific benefits and targeted at relevant audiences has been recommended. As I have said, that has been embedded in our system from the start.
Family Advice and Information Resource—FAIR—suggested that
“specialist services that are accessible and personalised to the client’s needs”,
such as home visits, are vital. That is another key area in the delivery of disability benefits. It is also key to our encouraging take-up, as is our entire narrative in saying that people are entitled to financial support and should apply for it.
That feeds into another clear theme in the evidence, which is the need to challenge the stigma around claiming benefits. The principles that social security is a human right and an investment in the people of Scotland are written into the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 and run through everything that we do. We are determined to shift that narrative in Scotland. That approach can be embodied in our principle of starting from a position of trust in what people tell us.
As the committee has heard, our approach is in direct contrast to that of the Department for Work and Pensions, which does not have an explicit benefit take-up strategy. It does not have legislation or a strategy to tackle child poverty, as the Scottish Government has, either. That said, the DWP has stated that it is committed to tackling poverty. That is important, given that eligibility for low-income benefits such as the best start grant and the new Scottish child payment is based on entitlement to low-income benefits that are reserved. I have therefore written to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Thérèse Coffey, to seek assurances that the spillover provisions in the fiscal framework will not pose a fiscal threat in the face of our statutory duty to promote and encourage benefit take-up.
The synergy between the benefit take-up strategy and evidence that has been submitted to the committee’s inquiry is encouraging. The rich body of evidence that has been made available, along with the committee’s own recommendations, will be a guiding light as we implement our current benefit take-up strategy and in the development of the next one.
I am happy to take questions.