Carer Support Payment: island communities impact assessment

Monitoring and review

In the course of this ICIA and those for other Social Security benefits, evidence was gathered from stakeholders through a variety of channels.

Island and rural communities are represented on Experience Panels, with 34 island members as of October 2022. Experience Panels continue to meet with stakeholders from island communities, and have held interview and focus groups in island locations to gather views on experiences of the existing (DWP) social security system; the branding of Social Security Scotland; Young Carer focus groups; Social Security Charter interviews; and Local delivery focus groups.

• From launch, Carer Support Payment will provide an improved service to carers, joining up with wider services to help carers access information on the wide range of support available to them, including other social security benefits they may be entitled to
• Following launch of Carer Support Payment, an annual client evaluation is planned to monitor how the new benefit is working in practice, to identify any unintended consequences at an early stage, and to gauge any requirement for continuous improvement. The Scottish Government will also continue to ensure that carer voices and experiences are reflected in policy development by continuing to work alongside both the Experience Panels members and the Carer Benefits Advisory Group to monitor any arising issues raised by either group or in any Ministerial correspondence. This will be a continuous improvement process and where any unintended consequences are identified, steps will be taken to rectify them as early as possible.
• The Scottish Government will also put in place a monitoring and evaluation plan for Carer Support Payment prior to implementation and will engage with stakeholder organisations in developing this plan.
• The Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 places a duty on the Scottish Ministers to report annually to the Scottish Parliament on the performance of the Scottish Social Security system during the previous financial year. The report is to describe what the Scottish Ministers have done in that year to meet the expectations on them set out in the Social Security Charter.