Scottish Government won't reveal cost of using IT system
Scottish ministers are paying the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to use its “flawed” IT system and refusing to reveal the cost.
Nationalist ministers have agreed to pay the DWP for the use of its IT systems to administer payments but won’t say how much it will cost the public purse.
The revelation comes after Audit Scotland suggested SNP ministers have not adequately budgeted for the implementation of the new social security system.
And there are concerns about the reliability of the DWP’s system after it emerged some welfare payments were delayed last week because of what the DWP described as a “computer glitch.”
This is on top of endemic problems with payments which have been ongoing for years.
Scottish Labour’s Social Security spokesperson Mark Griffin MSP said: “This veil of secrecy from the SNP is deeply concerning.
“There are widespread concerns about the capability of the DWP systems, with payments not being delivered on time because of a glitch just this week.
“Scotland has the opportunity to build a radically fairer country with these powers – but SNP ministers must be honest if we are going to ensure we get the foundations of this new system right.”
Ant-cuts campaigner Peter Campbell said the move was “folly.”
He added: “The system is obviously flawed yet we are adopting it. It’s waiting for an accident to happen.
“It’s the poorest who suffer because of these problems. The Scottish Government must make sure this system works and works faultlessly.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson called the claims “nonsense”.
“The nature of the devolution of benefits is reliant on two social security systems interacting and on two governments working together in order to ensure the safe and secure transition of benefits as well as providing security for those in receipt of payments and reducing the burden on them having to provide us with more paperwork,” they said.
“All of the systems which relate to entitlement – what and how much a person will receive – will be new and are being developed by the Scottish Government.
“We have financial plans in place, which have been publicly available in the financial memorandum to the Social Security Bill since last year.”
