One of the best outcomes of devolution was Holyrood gaining partial control of the social security system.
Successive Tory Governments have tried to take an axe to benefit spending and giving MSPs control was a positive move.
In large part the Scottish Government has moved towards a more humane, person-centred approach.
The Scottish Child Payment, worth £25 a week for low income families, could go down as Nicola Sturgeon’s best policy.
The SNP/Green Government was also quick to announce benefit rises in line with inflation. However, our revelation today that Scots are facing huge delays in having benefit applications processed is deeply worrying.
Figures show that some people are waiting over 100 days for a decision on Adult Disability Payment. ADP replaced the Personal Independence Payment and is awarded to some of the most vulnerable people in society.
Forcing someone to wait three months for a decision increases anxiety and feelings of helplessness.
Other public services are struggling, but for people with almost nothing to be kept waiting during a cost-of-living crisis is grim.
Ministers must urgently review whether Social Security Scotland has the staffing to ensure decisions are made speedily. If not, resources must be reallocated. Under the Tories, the DWP became a byword for heartless, cruel and inhumane practices.
It is early days for Social Security Scotland, but its reputation can only take a knock when claimants fail to get a decision in a speedy manner.
Shifting blame
Rail unions are right to call out the UK Government’s lack of action when it comes to resolving a long-running dispute that has caused widespread train cancellations.
Network Rail, owned and controlled by Westminster, has failed to make a serious attempt to get staff back onside.
Station clerks, maintenance crews and signallers across the UK are all fed-up with low pay and the threat of job cuts hanging over them.
The Scottish Government settled a separate dispute with ScotRail staff – but its trains can’t run properly if Network Rail staff have walked out.
It’s in everyone’s interests that this industrial action is resolved.
Otherwise the suspicion will grow that Tory ministers are deliberately refusing to resolve the strike in a desperate attempt to shift the blame elsewhere.
It’s a tactic the party has attempted in the past.
They shouldn’t get away with it this time around.
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