The Disability Assistance (Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance) Regulations 2025: equality impact assessment

10. Race

Just under 4% of Scotland's population belong to minority ethnic groups, and 7% of the total population communicate in home languages other than English. Although there are not statistics showing the number of people within Scotland who are in receipt of disability benefits and who belong to minority ethnic groups, it is known that they generally make up 3.7% of those with a reported learning disability or developmental disorder.^[28]

There are particular barriers for individuals from minority ethnic groups in applying for disability benefits, especially those with English as a second language, as there may be difficulties in accessing or understanding their entitlements due to language or other communication barriers. In particular, participants in Experience Panels stated that they were not confident in using online resources or other materials because, while they felt they could speak English conversationally, they did not feel comfortable making sense of the complicated and technical language often used by authorities.^[29]

To address this, work has been undertaken with ethnic minority groups alongside the main Experience Panels as part of the Benefit Take-up Strategy. Experience Panel engagements with people who use English as a second language also showed that there is often an assumption around the most commonly translated languages.

There is an expectation that Social Security Scotland will mirror provision by other public sector organisations, and speakers of less common languages have shared that they will generally opt for letters in English, on the assumption that there are no materials available in their home language. This removes individual agency, forcing some individuals to rely on support to apply, and creating a barrier to take-up. Additionally, many individuals have also expressed concerns that they would misinterpret information and, as a result, they would be sanctioned or prosecuted because of language barriers.

Social Security Scotland will ensure that appropriate communication support is provided to meet individual needs both for accessibility and for language barriers. This includes the use of translator services during telephone calls and translation of decision reports when a determination of entitlement is made.

Social Security Scotland will create a range of Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance stakeholder resources and content in accessible formats. These resources will be proactively supplied to relevant stakeholder organisations through the National Engagement Team for organisations to distribute to people in local communities. Social Security Scotland proactively translate materials into 12 languages used in communities across Scotland. These include: British Sign Language, Urdu, Polish, Arabic, Ukrainian, Romanian, as well as braille and easy read formats. Materials in other languages are available on request.^[30]

Social Security Scotland's communications team will work with community radio and foreign language press to provide messaging on Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance to communities. In some circumstances, printed marketing materials may not be the right way to engage with these communities and where this is the case, Social Security Scotland will provide an engagement approach through work carried out by the National Engagement and Local Delivery teams.

10.1 Gypsy/Traveller community

Within the broader classification of ethnic minority, just over 4,000 people in Scotland (0.1% of the population) identified their ethnic group as 'White: Gypsy/Traveller'.^[31] Although there are not statistics held on the number of Gypsy/Traveller people who receive disability benefits under the current system, the census showed that 28% of Gypsy/Travellers reported having a life limiting long-term health problem or disability, compared to 20% of the general population. It is thus more likely that this group will need to access disability benefits, but also likely that this group may experience additional barriers to accessing benefits.

The Scottish Government was also informed anecdotally that the Gypsy/Traveller community operate within the 'cash economy' and that they are more likely to have a post office account than a bank account. This can be problematic in terms of receiving payments. The payment method of Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance will be important for some people, and particularly the Gypsy/Traveller community. To address this, payments can be made to Post Office and Credit Union accounts, and can be redeemed at one of 2850 PayPoint outlets in Scotland.

10.2 Refugees

The ethnic minority population also includes refugees. People with refugee status are eligible for benefits such as disability benefits, but typically experience additional barriers in comparison to the general population in accessing them. Specific research has been undertaken with this group as part of the Experience Panels to highlight barriers and challenges in accessing social security by Mobile Populations.^[32]

Participants felt stigmatised, misunderstood, judged and discriminated against by government officials under the current system. Refugees highlighted the need to learn more English to access services and interact effectively with government officials to be a barrier. It was highlighted that many refugees have a strong reliance on translators and interpreting services to communicate with government officials.

Social Security Scotland will ensure that individuals who require the use of translator services during telephone calls have access to this support. Decision reports when a determination of entitlement is made will be translated for individuals who require this information in another language. Social Security Scotland staff will also undertake training in inclusive communications to ensure individuals can interact in ways that work for them. This approach will help to reduce the stigma felt by refugees in their interactions with Scotland's social security system.

Participants felt that they could not find correct information on benefits and eligibility from official government channels under the UK Government system. Many perceived the social security system to be complex and difficult to understand. It was also noted by some participants that they encountered barriers in accessing information and application processes that are online, because they did not have internet access or digital services.

As previously noted, Social Security Scotland will proactively provide stakeholder organisations with Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance resources. This approach should help to mitigate barriers in accessing information and for refugees and other Mobile Populations.

10.3 Residence and presence

The current rules for Disability Living Allowance set out that an individual would be required to be present for 104 out of the previous 156 weeks. For other benefits, Scottish Government policy has been to reduce the past presence test from 104 out of 156 weeks to 26 out of 52 weeks. For Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance, as it is a closed benefit, only intended as a replacement for Disability Living Allowance, it was determined that it would be best to ensure consistency with the residence rules for other Scottish benefits. At the point of case transfer, the residence information which is shared by the Department for Work and Pensions is assumed to be correct, however we wish to be able to confirm these in future.

Scottish Ministers have previously legislated to ensure those settling in Scotland from Afghanistan, Ukraine, Sudan, Lebanon, Israel and Palestinian territories are exempt from having to satisfy the habitual residence and past presence tests. These provisions will also be included as part of the Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance regulations.

The inclusion of these provisions in those disability benefits which are open to new applications will have a positive impact on disabled people who have settled in Scotland from areas of conflict by ensuring that they have access to benefits at the earliest possible opportunity, therefore assisting with the additional costs relating to their care needs as a result of a disability or health condition.

10.4 Terminal illness

It is known that there is a low uptake of palliative and end of life care services for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups in the United Kingdom. This was also identified in the 'Palliative and end of life care for BAME groups in the United Kingdom' report,^[33] which identified 45 literature reviews in this area. Some suggested factors for low uptake included a lack of referrals, lack of knowledge about services or the impact of family and religious values interacting with the idea of palliative and hospice care.

It is likely that some of the reasons for a low uptake of palliative care could also lead to a low uptake in disability benefits when terminally ill. As population projections are suggesting that people are living longer, this may present a challenge to those who are terminally ill from minority ethnic groups in receipt of Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance.

There is some evidence that ethnic minority groups can vary in the extent to which individuals would wish to know about their terminal diagnosis. This has been highlighted in a cross-cultural study involving some East Asian countries.^[34] The research around this is not specific to any particular age group. The terminal illness policy has been developed in a way that is supportive of individuals from minority ethnic groups where explicit knowledge of a terminal diagnosis may be considered not to be in the best interests of the individual.

The Scottish Government has worked with people with lived experience to refine the way that terminal illness is spoken about. Scottish Ministers' commitment to accessible communication includes making sure that language barriers are not created for people who communicate in languages other than English.

The Chief Medical Officer's guidance contains important information for practitioners to support sensitive communication with individuals relating to their diagnosis. It also makes allowance for situations where sharing the terminal diagnosis with the individual would be harmful to them.

To support terminally ill people, it will also be possible for a third party to report on behalf of the client, and this will similarly be supportive of individuals where explicit knowledge of a terminal diagnosis is deemed not in their best interests. In these ways the terminal illness policy is supportive of those from minority ethnic groups.

Figures for terminally ill people are not collected by ethnic group. As the numbers are small, caution would be needed as release of these statistics could identify individuals. To mitigate this, we will invite individuals to complete a voluntary equalities survey to collect data on the ethnicity of people transferring from Disability Living Allowance. This should lead to collection of better data which can be used to inform changes to Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance, and where relevant, terminal illness policy.