Social Security Scotland workforce savings: FOI release

Information requested

Request for information 1: The date on which Social Security Scotland and the Scottish Government discussed workforce savings.

Request for information 2: A copy of the analysis done by Social Security Scotland or the Scottish Government (or both) that calculated that £7m could be saved. In other words, whatever piece of work that was undertaken to determine how much could be saved by making workforce cuts. (if other calculations regarding areas other than workforce were included then please also reveal that.

Request for information 3: A copy of the internal communication from Social Security Scotland to make relevant staff aware of the proposal to make £7m in savings.

Request for information 4: A breakdown of Social Security Scotland’s current workforce by job role. Please include the number of each type of role and include all categories of jobs (including leadership). Please also include whether or not a role is considered to permanent or not.

Response

Request for information 1:

As an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government, Social Security Scotland is in regular discussion around budget and expenditure. The proposed savings were submitted to the Scottish Government on 31 July 2024.

Request for information 2:

Social Security Scotland are not making any overall reductions to our workforce.

The saving identified represents changes to timing of recruitment activity.

As a result of reprofiling recruitment, Social Security Scotland had 260 less full-time equivalent staff in our plans than originally projected over a 6-month period. This equated to a saving in the 2024/25 financial year of £7m.

An exemption under section 30(c) of FOISA (prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs) applies to some of the information requested. Disclosing this information would substantially prejudice our ability to conduct financial management effectively which is based on our ability to analyse and discuss the cause of over or underspends and assess the risk around making different decisions to ensure financial balance. This would constitute substantial prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs in terms of the exemption.

We have assessed this request against the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. We recognise that there is a public interest in disclosing information as part of open, transparent and accountable government. However, there is a greater public interest in protecting the processes for financial management and ensuring that the Scottish Government is able to conduct this effectively. This means that we have not disclosed the plans or associated explanations of any variation against plan which is business judgement. The information which has been provided is in line with the disclosure in our Annual Report and Accounts.

Request for information 3:

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Social Security Scotland does not have the information you have requested. As the proposed saving did not impact on current staff, no internal communication with staff was required.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Social Security Scotland does not have the information you have requested.

Request for information 4:

Please find some of the requested information in the document attached.

An exemption under section 30(c) of FOISA (prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs) applies to some of the information requested. Disclosing this information would substantially prejudice the Government’s ability to prevent fraudulent activity. This would constitute substantial prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs in terms of the exemption.

Although we cannot disclose the numbers of each type of role, to assist we can advise that Social Security Scotland currently has a total of 4,310 staff, 4,067 are permanent employees and 243 are temporary staff.

Established fraud risk management theory maintains that a threat actor’s decision to commit fraud is informed by their assessment of three main factors: motivation, rationalisation and opportunity.

The assessment of a threat actor’s opportunity relates to the perceived ease of achieving success balanced against the risk of detection and severity of punishment. Increased opportunity to exploit vulnerabilities, and/or decreased risk of detection and punishment (or simply a perception of this) will have directly aggravating impacts on our fraud risk profile – increasing the number of threat actors who would seek to test our defences which could in turn undermine the effectiveness of our fraud response due to those increased volumes of attacks.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. We recognise that there is some public interest in release because the information aids transparency into how the agency engages staff and the numbers of staff in key areas. There is a greater public interest in withholding this information to maintain the effectiveness of our fraud function.

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.

FOI 202400430239 - Information released - Annex

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1 page PDF

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