Social Security wins Public Service Award

Social Security Scotland and colleagues in the Scottish Government Social Security Directorate have been jointly recognised at the Scottish Public Service Awards. The Scottish Public Service Awards celebrate the daily contribution made to Scottish society from within the Civil Service, Scottish Government, Scottish Parliament, local government, health and social care sector, broader public sector and partners within the Third Sector.

The work that has been undertaken to develop and deliver a new social security system for Scotland received the Campbell Christie Public Service Reform Award. This celebrates teams that best embody the spirit of public sector reform – working across departmental and organisational boundaries.

Richard Leonard MSP presented the accolade at the Holyrood awards ceremony. The win reflects the progress we have made building a new, devolved social security system from scratch, collaborating across national and local governments and working with the people of Scotland to create services based on dignity, fairness and respect.

Stephen Kerr, Director of Social Security, Scottish Government said:

“The people who use our services are at the heart of everything we do, from policy development and service design, through to delivery. Since September 2018, we introduced 11 benefits – 7 of which are brand new. Once fully operational, Social Security Scotland will deliver 17 benefits and provide over £5 billion in benefit payments to 1.8 million children and adults – around one in three people in Scotland.

“Putting programmes such as ours forward for awards demonstrates that public sector innovation and collaboration can and does make a transformational difference to people’s lives, as well as providing the teams who work tirelessly to improve the lives of the people of Scotland with much-deserved recognition and the thanks they deserve.”

Miriam Craven, Deputy Director of Strategy, Change, Data and Engagement, Social Security Scotland said:

“I am so humbled to have been able to accept this award on behalf of Social Security Scotland and the Scottish Government’s Social Security Directorate. We worked across organisational boundaries to understand what people want and expect from us so that we get this right. It has been a joined up process from day one across analysis and research, policy, legal, service design and operational delivery. This has enabled us to introduce new benefits at a rapid pace and in a way that delivers client feedback like 92% of people finding their experience to be ‘good’ or ‘very good’.

“As we continue to grow and take on further disability benefits next year, we remain committed to delivering a high standard of service to our clients, one which people can be proud of that is based on dignity, fairness and respect.”