The Scottish Government are holding a series of online events regarding important aspects of new disability benefits. Our Welfare Rights Officer, Tracey Millar explains.

The Scotland Act 2016 devolved several social security powers to the Scottish Government.

This year, the Scottish Government will start delivering the first of the new Scottish Disability Assistance benefits.

It is anticipated that the Scottish Government will introduce the Child Disability Payment, which replaces the UK Government’s Child Disability Living Allowance (DLA), this summer as part of a pilot, ahead of full roll-out across Scotland this autumn.

This will be followed next year by the Adult Disability Payment, which will replace Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

Online events

As the Scottish Government moves towards the launch of Disability Assistance, they are giving you the opportunity to talk directly to the people who are designing these new benefits.

Over the next few months, they will be putting on a series of online events, where interested organisations and members of the public can hear from the staff of Social Security Scotland about important aspects of the new disability benefits.

The Scottish Government are planning to hold events on the following topics:

• The new application form for Disability Assistance (January 2021)
• Full walk-through of the new Child and Adult Disability Payments from application to appeal (February 2021)
• Reviewing your award and what happens if your circumstances change (February 2021)
• Blue badges, assisted vehicles and other entitlements linked to your disability benefit entitlement (February 2021)
• How to challenge the decision on your Disability Assistance: redeterminations, appeals and Short-Term Assistance (March 2021)
• Consultations – these will replace DWP-style PIP assessments for the minority of cases where they are needed (March 2021)
• How the pilot approach will work for Child Disability Payment (March 2021)

Events will be small, with a maximum of 30 people attending. People will hear a short presentation from the staff about the topic, followed by an opportunity for you to comment and ask questions.

If you would like to attend, please email socialsecurityprogramme_briefingandevents@gov.scot and mention which topics you are interested in. They will then get in touch to arrange dates for the online sessions, which will be on weekdays during normal working hours.

For more information on the new Scottish Disability Assistance benefits, please visit www.socialsecurity.gov.scot.