Question reference: S6W-07326
- Date lodged: 16 March 2022
-
Current status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 29 March 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the total estimated (a) cost of Scottish Social Security benefits, (b) funding provided through the fiscal framework and (c) additional Scottish Government funding required is for 2022-23.
Answer
The Scottish Fiscal Commission published updated forecasts alongside the 2022-23 Scottish Budget on 9 December 2021.
In line with their forecasts, the Scottish Government is committing £3,949 million to social security assistance in 2022-23, and is investing an additional £2.7 million to uprate eight Scottish benefits by 6% from 1 April, subject to parliamentary approval.
The UK Government Spring Statement was made on 23 March and provided an updated set of Social Security Block Grant Adjustments for 2022-23 which total £3,601 million.
Therefore, the Scottish Government is making an additional investment of over £346 million in the social security benefits in 2022-23.
Social security spending is demand-led which means it is variable and harder to control than other areas of spending. We will manage any variance between actual and forecast expenditure or Block Grant Adjustment, in a competent, responsible and balanced way.