Terminal illness
Cost of living crisis: find out what help is available
The central principle in our approach is to ensure that terminally ill individuals are provided with the support they need, when they need it.
Terminal illness is a complex and sensitive clinical issue, which includes a wide range of different diseases and individuals may have a single disease or a number of conditions at any one time.
Definition of terminal illness in Scotland and in the UK
The Scottish definition of terminal illness is different to that used by the UK Government. The Scottish definition of terminal illness, for the purposes of accessing disability assistance, is “a progressive disease that can reasonably be expected to cause the individual’s death”.
Registered medical practitioners or registered nurses, having had regard to the Chief Medical Officer’s (CMO) guidance, can use their clinical judgement to determine whether an individual is terminally ill for the purpose of accessing disability assistance.
In the UK Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Social Security legislation, a person is deemed terminally ill for the purpose of accessing disability assistance if they have “a progressive disease and their death as a consequence of that disease can be reasonably expected within twelve months”.
Special rules for Terminal Illness
If an individual is currently living with or is diagnosed with a terminal illness under the Scottish definition, their application for disability assistance can be processed under special rules. Special rules apply to Child Disability Payment, Adult Disability Payment and, when it is introduced, Pension Age Disability Payment.
The special rules allow an individual’s application to be processed differently to other individuals. Social Security Scotland fast-track applications from people with a terminal illness and aim to make payment within seven working days. Individuals who are terminally ill automatically receive the highest rates of assistance they are entitled to and there are no award reviews.
Purpose of the Chief Medical Officer’s guidance
The Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 sets out that the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) will provide guidance for registered medical practitioners and registered nurses. This guidance will enable registered medical practitioners and nurses to make a clinical judgement about whether an illness is regarded as terminal, for the purpose of accessing disability assistance.
The CMO guidance:
- supports clinicians to make a clinical judgement about terminal illness by interpreting and applying the Scottish definition of terminal illness
- takes account of existing professional guidance in this clinically complex area
- has been designed to be fit for purpose and fair and transparent for medical practitioners, patients and their carers
- is relevant to others with an involvement or interest on the care of people who may be approaching the end of life
Workstreams
To ensure the smooth implementation of the new terminal illness definition, for the purposes of accessing disability assistance in Scotland, we created the National Implementation Group.
This group draws together clinicians, individuals and organisations with the required expertise to help ensure the guidance is applied appropriately.
Policy position papers
We have published a series of social security policy papers setting out our position on the development of the devolved benefits in Scotland.