Individuals in receipt of disability benefits have the duty to report changes of circumstances to Social Security Scotland. For most cases in CDP, the individual reporting the change will most likely be the person who is managing the child's assistance.

People are expected to report a change of circumstance that is likely to impact on their level of entitlement as soon as reasonably practicable after that change happened. This then triggers and unscheduled review.

The rules on when entitlement starts in these scenarios are set out in the Change of circumstances: change in care and mobility needs DMG chapter.

However, people might not proactively report a change of circumstance and might only tell us about that change in their next scheduled review.

For scheduled reviews an increase in their entitlement will normally take effect on the date the case manager makes the determination (CDP regs, reg. 28(1)(d)).

In a situation where the award is due to increase and an individual proactively tells us that there are clear reasons as to why they were unable to report a change sooner, you should consider whether it would be unjust not to se an earlier start date for their increase in entitlement (1 CDP regs, reg. 28(2)).

If the individual challenges the initial determination and gives a reason for why an earlier date should be considered, the case manager must consider this and choose an earlier release date if they feel it would be unjust not to do so. Where the scheduled review includes multiple changes, it is possible separate determination may be needed. This will depend on the reason given (for an earlier date) and whether this affects all changes, or just one of them.

If you've established that it would be unjust not to set an earlier date, you should refer to the section 'Setting an earlier start date if it would be unjust not to do so' for a change resulting in increased entitlement or for more detail on when these changes will take effect.

It is possible that a review reveals a decrease in the individual's level of needs which they should have reported earlier. Where the individual has knowingly failed to report such a change or failed to notify the change as soon as reasonably practical after that change occurring, the case manager would set the date of either:

• lower entitlement
• cessation of entitlement

to the date the individual should have notified us about the change (CDP regs, reg. 29(1)(b)(i)).

See guidance at section 'If the decrease should have been reported sooner.

In any other case where the review reveals a decrease this change should take effect from the date of the determination (CDP regs, reg. 29(1)(b)(ii)).

In a situation where the individual tells us that there are clear reasons why a later date would be more fair for a reduced award to commence from, you should consider whether it would be unjust not to set a later start date for their decrease in entitlement (CDP regs, reg. 29(2).

If you’ve established that it would be unjust not to set a later date, you should refer to the section 'If the decrease should have been reported sooner' for a change resulting in decreased entitlement or ceased entitlement for more detail on when these changes will take effect.