Adult Disability Payment: Independent Review - interim report

Initial Actions Capable of Early Implementation

Pre-application support

• Consider an Adult Disability Payment-specific take up strategy.
• Implement better promotion of pre-application services.
• Continue to proactively share information about Adult Disability Payment at community locations throughout Scotland.
• Consider alternative routes to access and referral pathways in respect of the Local Delivery service, to include an alternative way of booking an appointment, providing more local information and allowing third party referrals.
• Further develop the plan to proactively reach out to and engage effectively with seldom heard groups to try to address the societal and sometimes cultural stigma associated with applying for Adult Disability Payment to ensure broader and fairer access.
• As part of on-going continuous improvement activity, maintain the relevance of training and guidance provided for staff in Social Security Scotland so that the client experience is consistent and provides a faster route to resolution when clients receive conflicting advice from the Department for Work and Pensions and Social Security Scotland.
• Ensure information on interpretation services is easily accessible.
• Continue to be responsive to user needs in ensuring that the language used on the Social Security Scotland website and in literature is always accessible.

Application process

• Consider conducting some user research into why people don’t use the online application process, including (for example) advocates, welfare benefits advisers, etc. in order to understand the best ways to encourage less paper-based applications and identify routes to tackling any barriers to using the on-line form as first preference.
• As indicated in Social Security Scotland's Business Plan 2024- 25 undertake an exercise to determine if a self-service portal (to let people know what stage their application is at) could be introduced to potentially reduce phone calls to Social Security Scotland.
• As indicated in Social Security Scotland's Business Plan 2024- 25 consider the introduction of automatic communication from Social Security Scotland telling an applicant what stage their application is at.
• As part of on-going continuous improvement activity, consider updating the guidance that accompanies the application form to better prompt people to complete free text boxes and/or consider providing more space on the on-line application form in the fluctuating conditions section to allow for further explanation of how a disability or other impairment affects daily life.
• As part of on-going continuous improvement activity, ensure language is always accessible, particularly the language included in questions on the application form.
• Although available on-line if searched for, consider how to make the activities and descriptors and associated points more prominent and accessible for applicants.
• Improve awareness of the ability to make the choice to undergo an in-person consultation and provide greater clarity that video conferencing is an option for people.

Communications and engagement

• Continue to make reducing phone wait times a priority to improve the client experience.
• Consider updating the suite of guidance and/or provide support to third sector organisations, to ensure information is available in braille, BSL, Easy Read and other accessible formats.
• Consider undertaking further user research to ensure that people with terminal illness see themselves appropriately reflected in communications.
• Highlight the option to request written translations of re-determinations letters to ensure the needs of minority communities are better met.
• As indicated in Social Security Scotland's Business Plan 2024- 25 consider providing advanced communication when someone is due a call from Social Security Scotland, outlining what the client can expect the call to be about.

Decision-making Guidance

• As part of continues improvement consider reviewing Adult Disability Payment training and guidance for case managers to ensure it meets the needs of people with fluctuating conditions.
• As part of the commitment to continuous improvement, ensure that information provided to clients and staff in support organisations, is clear and consistent in relation to backdating payments.

Quality Assurance

• Enhance the quality assurance processes to ensure the ‘reliability’ rules are properly and consistently applied.
• Improve the use of health and social care practitioners’ input as part of the decision-making process.
• To supplement the quality assurance process, undertake a review of decision statements to assess if standardised text is being used when relating to the general manifestations associated with some conditions or disabilities.
• Clarity to be given to Social Security Scotland staff on performance measures to emphasise the balance between outputs, outcomes and quality.

Supporting Information

• Consider making better use of health and social care practitioners to reduce the need for follow up telephone calls to medical professionals.
• Review and if necessary, update the training for Social Security colleagues to ensure they are aware of the need for cultural awareness and intersectionality in the administration of Adult Disability Payment.
• Re-visit the guidance for GPs in relation to providing Supporting Information for Adult Disability Payment to improve the timeliness and usefulness of the information provided.
• Consider ways to improve relationships between Social Security Scotland and medical professionals through BMA Scotland, GMC, local medical committees. Consider ways to reinforce the messaging in relation to GPs/other medical professionals working more closely with Social Security Scotland to reduce clients stress and reduce the number of required appointments, acknowledging that when awards are made it can often promote better longer-term health outcomes for clients.
• Review and if necessary, update the guidance for non-medical sources providing Supporting Information.
• Improve the guidance for case managers on ‘equal consideration’ being given to nonmedical sources when supplying Supporting Information.

Processing applications

• As indicated in Social Security Scotland's Business Plan 2024- 25 continue to do all possible to improve decision-making times and call wait times.
• As indicated in Social Security Scotland's Business Plan 2024- 25 proactively provide updates on likely wait time for processing an application, review or a change of circumstances.

Decision Notices

• Consider as part of continuous improvement the feasibility of changing the ordering of information and messaging in an award letter to allow people to better understand the important and relevant information.
• Consider as part of continuous improvement the feasibility of providing greater clarity in the award letter to allow people to better understand indefinite awards.

Re-determinations

• Assess the benefits or otherwise of enhancing the communication around the risk that a re-determination decision may result in Adult Disability Payment payments being reduced.

Third-party Representatives

• Consider the feasibility of reviewing existing policy and guidance regarding completion of declaration (paper form and on-line) and third-party mandate and re-visit the mandate process for support organisations to ensure it works for the client and their representative.
• Consider the feasibility of introducing ‘implicit consent’ as is available with PIP and/or update the guidance on Social Security Scotland staff speaking with third party representatives when the client is not present to authorise the interaction.
• Consider the introduction of dedicated phone or online route for support services (welfare benefits advisers, third party advocates).

Research and Data

• Social Security Scotland to consider the recording and publication of the number of applications and awards for people with Long Covid.
• The Scottish Government to consider conducting some in-depth research to provide evidence on the additional costs of disability in Scotland.