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As the member emphasised, our consultation is still live and closes today, and we encourage people to contribute to it. Once the consultation closes, officials will require some time to consider the feedback and the policy options. There are challenges relating to how we deliver in the future. We need to consider what powers the Scottish Government has and the technical capabilities for delivery. However, we are keen to make improvements when we can. We will aim to publish in early 2023 a response to the consultation, which will set out some of our next steps. As part of policy development, officials will consider whether there would be a benefit in modifying the legislative footing on which the Scottish child payment is based. That is certainly something that we will consider.

Does the member mean in a safeguarding capacity?

That is a very important question on which I will bring in Janet Richardson shortly. Before I do so, I emphasise to Mr Balfour and the committee more widely that Social Security Scotland is well prepared for the extension of the Scottish child payment, because it now has the necessary staff, processes, training and support either in place or scheduled imminently.

As Mr Balfour rightly emphasised, we expect a large influx of applications once the benefit is extended on 14 November, should Parliament pass the regulations. To help to manage that, at the same time, we are introducing improvements to reduce manual processing of Scottish child payment applications. We call that straight-through processing, and it should impact positively on processing times. Straight-through processing is through increased automation of processing of Scottish child payment applications. Once the payment is extended from 14 November to individuals who are responsible for children under 16, a high percentage of applications should be processed automatically without any manual intervention being required. The system will carry out all the checks that a client adviser would perform, so clients will not be treated differently if their application is processed by the system. Only eligible cases, with no outstanding actions or checks to be completed, will be processed to payment by that system.

If a client is not eligible or fails any of the automated checks for any reason, their case will be picked up by a client adviser to be processed manually. Any client who is awarded the Scottish child payment, after a decision is processed by that system, will have the same redetermination and appeal rights as a client whose decision was made by a client adviser. We are being very clear that no application will be denied by the straight-through system, because we have those proper checks and balances.

A combination of organisational preparation through staffing, training, straight-through processing and making sure that the agency is properly stood up for the anticipated increase in demand from 14 November, will make it a good client journey for the people of Scotland.

Janet, do you want to add anything to what I have said?

I thank Mr Choudhury for that question. I talked about that in my answer to Natalie Don. There are on-going considerations of the impact of the Scottish child payment on clients’ engagement with work, but there is no evidence of significant effects to date.

I urge colleagues, on the basis of our discussion today and what I said in my opening statement and more generally, to support the regulations. In particular, the uplift and extension of the Scottish child payment will make a significant difference for a lot of our constituents during this challenging time. There are various times during a parliamentary session when MSPs can make a difference for people, and I suggest that this is one of those moments. I strongly urge colleagues to support the regulations, given the positive impact that the increase in, and extension of, the Scottish child payment will have for many households at this challenging time.

I move,

That the Social Justice and Social Security Committee recommends that the Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendment and Transitional Provision) (Scotland) Regulations 2022 be approved.

It is a good thing for all of Scotland that education maintenance allowance is in place in Scotland, whereas that is not in the case in other parts of the UK. Although the Scottish Government cannot guarantee that all 16-year-olds who age out of the Scottish child payment will be eligible for EMA, we have considered the likelihood that people who turn 16 might transition to EMA, so we are working to ensure that relevant signposting is in place for them. We are developing an insight-driven communication and engagement plan, which will be a live document that is continuously reviewed and updated. We are developing that ahead of the roll-out, and it will be reviewed and updated.

In our communication strategy, we have included an objective to raise awareness of EMA as a form of support for those who age out of the Scottish child payment at the age of 16, and we are currently working on the best approach to achieve that objective. EMA is currently promoted in schools as well as online, including via local authority websites. We are working to ensure that promotion in schools of the Scottish child payment is conscious of the links to EMA and complements engagement that has already been carried out.

The point is well made by the member and the committee. I hope that my answer reassures members that consideration and action are under way in that space. With our partners that I have mentioned, the Government will certainly be focused on making sure that we help people to access the support of EMA once they age out of the Scottish child payment.

In a moment, I will bring in Janet Richardson. They are different systems. Of course, not just in the Scottish Government but among colleagues in local authorities and other public service providers, there are longer-term ambitions, from a digital perspective, to make the journey and access of support as easy as possible for people in Scotland, and that is an on-going piece of work. Because the EMA is not delivered by Social Security Scotland, that automation cannot be implemented in the social security system. However, as I have emphasised, action and partnership are already under way to help people to be aware of the EMA and how to apply, as well as to encourage them to do so as they age out of the Scottish child payment.

Janet, do you want to add anything to that?

As I said, it is important that we also consider the wider context. There are individuals who are still to apply for the Scottish child payment, and we want to encourage them to apply. Our decision-making process has been based on our user research, which showed that, if we were to automatically engage that cohort in an application process to continue the payment, other people who might be eligible might think that they would be automatically registered for the Scottish child payment. That could mean that those who wrongly thought that they would be automatically enrolled would not apply.

We have to balance the situation between the needs of the people with children who are ageing out and those of the wider cohort, in the context of our wanting people to apply for the benefit. Therefore, the decision was made that, although we would not undertake a process of restarting automatically the Scottish child payment for children who have recently turned six, we will proactively contact their families and emphasise that they need to apply.

Thank you, convener. I am sorry that I cannot, due to coronavirus, be with you all in person this morning. Thank you for your understanding, and for the opportunity to discuss the draft regulations with you.

The draft regulations will make changes to the best start foods regulations, the best start grant regulations and the Scottish child payment regulations. They will also correct an administrative oversight that has been identified in the Ukraine regulations that is required to ensure, on arrival in Scotland or in the rest of the United Kingdom, parity of access to benefits, specifically for people who hold Irish citizenship.

As colleagues will know, the Scottish child payment, best start foods and the three best start grant payments—the pregnancy and baby payment, the early learning payment and the school-age payment—are known collectively as the five family payments. They are delivered by Social Security Scotland and are five different payments that aim to provide support to low-income families with the costs of raising a child. All five payments are intended to help to tackle inequality, to improve outcomes and to make a positive impact on all the priority groups that are identified in “Best Start, Bright Futures—Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2022-2026”.

The regulations that are before us support the focus that the Scottish Government and the Parliament more widely have placed on tackling and reducing child poverty. The first main change that we are making is to extend eligibility for the Scottish child payment to low-income families with children aged six to 15.

Secondly, the regulations will increase the value of the Scottish child payment to £25 per child per week and will allow Social Security Scotland to automatically pay the best start grant early years payment and the best start grant school-age payment to eligible people who are in receipt of the Scottish child payment.

The regulations will also widen the definition of kinship care across the best start grant, best start foods and the Scottish child payment to ensure that the regulations include all kinship carers with a relevant legal order or agreement with the local authority. That will ensure that kinship carers are included who are not related to the child but are known to them and have a pre-existing relationship with them.

That change will also help to ensure better consistency across the payments, which I know the Scottish Commission on Social Security welcomes. Draft regulations were referred to the commission in March. We received its scrutiny report in June, and the Scottish Government’s response to its recommendations was laid in Parliament on 20 September. As always, I am extremely grateful to the Scottish Commission on Social Security for its scrutiny and recommendations.

I remind members that, yesterday, we laid regulations to introduce further ancillary provisions to ensure that the regulations that we are discussing today will deliver the policy intentions effectively.

I welcome the opportunity to speak to you all, as colleagues and as a committee, as part of your consideration of the regulations. I look forward to any questions that you might have.

Again, I will shortly bring in Janet Richardson from the agency for a response about what is happening on the ground, but I can tell you that there will be a processing period after application. However, I want to emphasise that the straight-through processing and the increased workforce that Janet has just highlighted will mean that applications will be processed as quickly as possible. Indeed, many applications will go through the automatic processes, which will have a very positive impact on the client experience and waiting times.

The level of demand is still somewhat unknown, because we are not clear about how many people will apply in the first week from 14 November. Of course, we have projections on what we think the position will be. We want as many people as possible to apply—indeed, that is the overarching message from the Government, the Parliament and more widely—so we are prepared to process applications as quickly as possible.

I will pass over to Janet Richardson, who can give you a further indication of the timescales involved.