Social Security Scotland IT system costs: FOI release

Information requested

In a response to a person’s FOI request about IT costs you stated “Information on IT system total cost for the current financial year 2023-24 was not available at the time of your request. It may be helpful to know that the 2023-24 financial year ends on 31 March 2024, information on the cost of the IT systems for the year be available after this date.”

Please provide the following information:

Request for information 1: The total amount of money spent on Social Security Scotland’s IT system in 2023/24.

Please note by IT system I am referring to the various IT systems that Social Security Scotland utilise.

Request for information 2: You also state in the same FOI response “We routinely publish information on IT system expenditure in our Annual Report and Accounts.” Please reveal the latest documented figure which reflects the current cost of the Social Security Scotland’s IT system costs.

Request for information 3: The total cost of IT system at the end of each financial year. Please put this information in a table which shows the financial year and the total amount of money spent on the IT system at the end of the financial year. Please also include all financial years that Social Security Scotland has been spending money on IT system.

Response

We have interpreted IT system to mean all of the various IT systems that Social Security Scotland utilise. These will include but are not limited to, Human Resource systems, Finance Systems, Purchasing Systems, Debt Systems, Payment Systems, Case Management Systems. These systems are largely controlled by either Social Security Scotland itself or the Scottish Government. We have not included the cost of Department for Work and Pensions systems or Other Government Department systems that we might also utilise and pay for.

Requests for information 1, 2 and 3:

Some of the information you have requested is available from our Annual Reports and Accounts. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

We routinely publish information on IT system expenditure in our Annual Report and Accounts. As some IT systems are shared with the Scottish Government the costs are included within the Shared Services recharges we pay, although these do not exclusively relate to IT systems. Information on Scottish Government Shared Service recharges and Social Security Scotland IT systems can be found in Note 3 of our Annual Report and Accounts at the below links.

Social Security Scotland - Annual Report and Account 2022-2023
Social Security Scotland - Annual Report and Accounts 2021-22
Social Security Scotland - Annual Report and Accounts 2020-21
Social Security Scotland - Annual Report and Accounts 2019-20
Social Security Scotland - Annual Report and Accounts 2018-19 (7 months)

Our 2023-24 Annual Report and Accounts is not yet published. Our records indicate that costs for 2023- 2024 are £13.3 million on IT Systems and £8.6 million on Shared Services recharges in relation to IT systems. These figures are subject to audit and may change on publication of our Annual Report and Accounts for 2023-24.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.