Employment Injury Assistance delivery - next steps: consultation - easy read

Section 2 – Taking forward delivery of Employment Injury Assistance

We want to deliver our benefits in a compassionate way while making sure we protect peoples’ current payments.

Option 1: Like for like benefit delivered with full case transfer with benefit reform to follow

The Industrial Injuries Scheme is mainly delivered using paper files.

This means that, unlike the Scottish social security system, applications are paper-based.

Files are held in multiple locations and many of these files are very old and in poor condition.

The number of files is much greater than for other benefits. This means we need to find and move paper-based files that are for people in Scottland which is difficult to do.

We will need to create a way to apply online. This could cost £39.8 million which we need to think very carefully about.

We could keep a paper-based system for applications. This would cost £13 million. However, this might not meet the principles of our Social Security Charter.

Our main priority is making sure no one loses their current payments.

However, the transfer of the Industrial Injuries Scheme would be very difficult because it is currently a paper-based system.

Moving up to 150,000 paper files will take a lot of time and will cost more than it has done to transfer other benefits from DWP.

One option would be to deliver Employment Injury Assistance on a like for like basis as IIS before May 2026. This means Employment Injury Assistance would be very similar to IIS.

We would have to work with DWP to establish a detailed timetable for case transfer.

Delivering Employment Injury Assistance now on a like-for-like basis would use time and money which can be better used in the short-term, including how to improve the benefit for the future.

Option 2: Prioritise fundamental reform of Employment Injury Assistance

There are specific challenges for us to deliver Employment Injury Assistance.

The current Scheme has about 1,000 new applications per year.

The Scottish Government believes a different approach to delivery may be needed to provide a high-quality service to clients which provides value for money.

This approach would not involve delivery in the same way as the current Scheme or case transfer.

There is a need to update who can receive the benefit and provide value for money.

This would allow us to consider the design of a new benefit that meets the needs of people in Scotland today

Developing an updated Employment Injury Assistance will involve a lot of research and talking to experts.

The first step will be creating a group with experts to inform what we do next. This is called a stakeholder advisory group.

Question 2: Do you support Option 1 or Option 2? Which option do you think the Scottish Government should choose? Give reasons for your answers.

A) Option 1

B) Option 2

C) Neither

D) Don’t know

Please give reasons for your answer.