SNP quango ‘squandered' £21m of public cash in benefits errors

Telegraph

a day ago

A benefits quango created by the SNP government has been accused of 'squandering' almost £21 million of public money.
New figures reveal that the cash has been paid out in error to claimants by Social Security Scotland (SSS) since 2019, when it was established.
The quango, which employs 4,000 staff and has a budget of £321 million, was set up to handle additional benefits paid out by the Scottish Government, including the Scottish child payment; best start grants and job start payments.
Stephen Kerr, the Conservative MSP for Central Scotland who obtained the overpayments data, accused the SNP of 'losing control' of state benefits and described SSS as a 'vast, out-of-control bureaucratic monster'.
According to figures released under freedom of information, more than 67,000 overpayments logged by the quango cost taxpayers £18.7 million between 2019-20 and 2024-25.
In the current financial year, almost 4,000 overpayments have cost more than £2.2 million.
The highest number of errors occurred with claimants for best start goods, a benefit designed to help pregnant women and families with young children to purchase healthy meals.
It provides financial support, typically on a prepaid card, to help cover the cost of items such as milk, fruit and vegetables. Since 2019, more than 32,000 overpayments were made.
More than 22,000 overpayments were logged for the Scottish child payment, which helps low-income families with children under 16.
'The SNP have completely lost control of Scotland's benefits bill,' said Mr Kerr. 'They've built an enormous, well-paid bureaucracy that has wasted £21 million since its creation – and the more money they pour in, the worse it seems to get.
'Hardworking Scottish taxpayers deserve far better – and they demand it. It is totally unacceptable for millions of pounds of their money to be squandered through blatant administrative incompetence.
'That money should be funding frontline services – or better yet, staying in taxpayers' pockets – not disappearing because of basic, avoidable errors.
'The SNP promised Social Security Scotland would deliver a fairer, more efficient system. These figures show how absurd that claim truly is. It's time the SNP faced up to the reality of the vast, out-of-control bureaucratic monster they've created. They must get a grip and take real responsibility.'
Growing social security spend
The Scottish Government has said it is committed to using its social security powers to support low-income families, carers and those with disabilities to tackle poverty and provide financial assistance.
However, MSPs on Holyrood's Social Justice and Social Security Committee are seeking views on the positive and negative aspects of growing social security spend in Scotland.
The committee has highlighted that 2025/26, the Scottish Government is spending £1.2 billion more on social security policies than it gets in funding for social security from the UK Government.
According to the Scottish Fiscal Commission, more than £5 billion was spent on social security in 2023/24 with this figure predicted to rise to £8.7 billion by 2030.
A spokesperson for SSS, said: 'As we have introduced more benefits, our client numbers have significantly increased with an expected corresponding increase in payment errors, although the number of errors is small.
'Over 1 million individual clients have been paid more than £6.1 billion directly by Social Security Scotland since 2018. The total amount of money given in overpayments represents 0.35% of our total benefit expenditure since 2018.
'We are committed to minimising errors and improving our abilities to tackle them.'