Adult Disability Payment: Consultation on the Mobility Component

Introduction

About Adult Disability Payment

Adult Disability Payment is a new payment for disabled adults to mitigate the additional costs of living with a disability or health condition. This includes physical or mental health conditions which have a significant, long-term impact on a person’s daily life. People between the ages of 16 and State Pension age, who do not already receive PIP, are now able to apply for Adult Disability Payment.

The eligibility rules for Adult Disability Payment have remained largely the same as under PIP as part of our commitment to a safe and secure transition of the devolution of social security payments. This is to avoid having two sets of eligibility criteria before completing the transfer of people’s payments from the UK Government to Social Security Scotland by 2025.

Our vision for disability assistance is to create a compassionate, person-centred approach that treats people with fairness, dignity and respect. In doing so, we have made considerable improvements to the application and decision-making process to offer a significantly better experience for disabled people. More detailed information on the key improvements introduced as part of Adult Disability Payment are included on page 15.

Adult Disability Payment is the most complex payment delivered so far by Social Security Scotland. It is linked to other forms of support which remain reserved to the UK Government, often referred to as “passported benefits.” It also involves a much more complex decision-making process than most of the other payments we have delivered so far.

As we undertake the process of transferring people’s payments from the UK Government to Social Security Scotland, we are considering what happens after the safe and secure transition has been delivered.

The review of Adult Disability Payment

Some disabled people and stakeholders have called on us to go further in the changes we have made to Adult Disability Payment. In particular, the way the eligibility criteria look at a person’s mobility needs has been highlighted as an area for further consideration. Our commitment is to seek the views of as many people as possible to shape the future of Adult Disability Payment – including disabled people, family members and carers, and our stakeholders.

When the Scottish Government responded to the Consultation on Adult Disability Payment, we set out a commitment to undertake an independent review of the new payment commencing in 2023. Membership of the review will be independent of Government and will secure the input of disabled people.

The Scottish Government has also committed to undertaking a review of the eligibility criteria for the mobility component of Adult Disability Payment in advance of the independent review.

Starting the independent review later in 2023 will give disabled people a year to experience the significant improvements we have already made in introducing Adult Disability Payment. It will also allow Social Security Scotland to build upon a successful start, as it gains further experience and continues to develop its capabilities in delivering this payment.

Figure 1 The timeline of the review of Adult Disability Payment

• August 2022: National launch of Adult Disability Payment
• October 2022: Review of mobility component eligibility criteria
• January 2023: Consultation on the mobility component
• April 2023: Consultation closes
• Summer 2023: Scottish Government publishes consultation responses
• After Summer 2023: Independent review of Adult Disability Payment begins

Key considerations for the review

There are practical delivery and affordability considerations that will have to be appropriately reflected in the remit, and any subsequent recommendations made by, the independent review. These include:

Affordability

The Scottish Government’s primary consideration is always about providing the right level of financial support to those who are entitled to it. However, it is also important to consider to what extent changes might result in increased spending or whether they could have unintended consequences for people’s entitlement to other “passported” benefits and entitlements.

If there are further changes, which mean either that more people will receive disability assistance, higher payments, or payments for longer, then any resulting increase in expenditure would need to be met from the largely fixed Scottish Budget. The Scottish Government’s ability to make significant changes to the eligibility criteria must be balanced against the potential costs and challenging economic situation. Whilst the Scottish Government has some limited powers over social security and taxation, we must carefully balance priorities for spending within the context of our largely fixed budget.

We are acutely aware that some people are keen to see us make changes more quickly, however we must be realistic about the challenges facing the Scottish Government in considering any potential future changes. As set out in the Emergency Budget Review on 2 November 2022, the financial situation facing the Scottish Government is, by far, the most challenging since devolution. This requires difficult decisions about how to prioritise spending across all our public services. Major changes which result in new, additional spending will therefore not be deliverable within this parliamentary term.

If changes also meant that more people were entitled to a UK Government benefit as a result, the Scottish Government could be asked to fund the increased spending by the UK Government. The Scottish Government and the UK Government have an agreed way of estimating these potential costs^[2]. These are called “spillover” costs.

Achieving value for money is a key consideration in our policy development process. It is enshrined as a principle within the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 and further defined in our Charter[3]. As we continue to balance the Scottish budget, challenging decisions will need to be made regarding any new policy suggestions, ensuring that any new changes are affordable and deliver value for money for the public purse.

Social security budgets are demand-led and, once we have agreed who is entitled to a particular benefit, we will pay any eligible person who applies. Any changes that will increase future benefit spending will mean the Scottish Government would need to find the money for those changes. We will need to decide how affordable and sustainable any changes are as part of our wider budget setting process.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC) – which is Scotland’s official, independent economic forecasting body – has estimated that by 2027-28 we will be spending £7.3 billion a year in social security payments to people in Scotland. This amounts to £1.4 billion more than the level of funding we expect to receive from the UK Government through the social security Block Grant Adjustments^[4].

The SFC expects spending on Adult Disability Payment to double from £2,047 million in 2022-23 to £4,116 million in 2027-28. The existing improvements that we have already made are expected to cost £40 million in 2022-23 and will grow to £670 million by 2027-28. These costs represent the additional investment we are making as a result of our different approach to disability benefits and therefore do not receive any funding from Block Grant Adjustments.

Whilst some of this increase is due to uprating payment levels to account for inflation, the changes we have already made to Adult Disability Payment are also expected to result in more people being eligible and higher payment levels. The additional cost represents deliberate policy decisions to better support disabled people. We therefore see this an investment in the people of Scotland and want to ensure that people who are entitled to our benefits receive them.

Deliverability

Potentially very small changes to any of our benefits can have a significant impact in areas of service delivery. This could involve making changes to application forms, letters, guidance for our case managers, training, or more complex changes to our systems.

Making more significant changes could take longer to implement, depending upon the scale and complexity of those changes. It is equally important to be realistic about the challenges of making significant changes when many people will be in receipt of Adult Disability Payment.

Taken together, complex issues regarding affordability and deliverability will be taken into consideration throughout the independent review process.

Why are we consulting?

The purpose of this consultation is to provide a robust evidence base to inform the independent review of Adult Disability Payment. The findings from this consultation will be passed to the independent review to consider and draw its own conclusions. This will also allow the independent review to consider insights drawn from the early delivery of Adult Disability Payment.

We want to ensure that a range of voices are informing the review of Adult Disability Payment. We are doing this by listening carefully to disabled people and stakeholders about their views on the eligibility criteria for the mobility component. This work has been facilitated by:

• a review of academic literature and engagement with academics,
• previous consultation analyses and findings,
• work with Experience Panel members,
• engagement with the Ill Health and Disability Benefits Stakeholder Reference Group, and
• advice from the Disability and Carer Benefits Expert Advisory Group on work beyond a safe and secure transition.

This consultation seeks views on the eligibility criteria for the mobility component of Adult Disability Payment. There are four sections in this consultation. These are:

• Section 1: the “moving around” activity (including the “20-metre rule”)
• Section 2: the “planning and following journeys” activity
• Section 3: support for people with fluctuating conditions (including the “50 percent rule”)
• Section 4: other considerations.

The consultation has been designed to allow for submission of each of the sections independently, as we recognise that respondents may wish to respond to one or more of the sections without wishing to express views on others.

What happens next and when?

This consultation is intended to start discussion and debate about the eligibility criteria for the mobility component of Adult Disability Payment. We are asking you to engage, to challenge, and to suggest creative approaches.

By working together, we will ensure that Adult Disability Payment continues to meet the needs of disabled people, both now and in the future.

In addition to this consultation paper, we will engage with people, both online and in person where possible, to ensure that as many people as possible are able to have their say.

At the end of the consultation process all of your feedback will be analysed and the findings will be used to inform the independent review of Adult Disability Payment later in 2023. We will publish our analysis of the consultation and the responses received.

We intend to set out more detail on the remit, timing and membership of the independent review in the next few months. The independent review will however be required to consider the cost and operational delivery aspects of recommendations, together with considering wider related issues, such as the implications of changes for people also in receipt of UK Government benefits. It will be important that the independent review consider priorities for action as part of its recommendations.