An overview of social security in Scotland

The devolution of certain social security benefits to Scotland has made social security has a priority for the Scottish government. In this briefing, we provide an overview of social security spending in Scotland, including a discussion of what we learned in the recent Economic and Fiscal Forecasts, and how much expenditure on social security is expected to increase in the coming years.
The expenditure section includes a discussion of how much is spent on social security and how Scotland funds this. The demand section includes a brief overview of what’s included within social security, examining both benefits new and unique to Scotland and those whose responsibility has been devolved, and how many people are utilising different services.