Staff working on disability benefits: FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
FOI Reference: FOI/202500494257
Date received: 17 November 2025
Date responded: 15 December 2025
Information requested
Request for information 1:
a. How many staff work exclusively on processing Child Disability Payment?
b. In what grades are these staff?
Request for information 2:
a. How many staff work exclusively on processing Adult Disability Payment?
b. In what grades are these staff?
Request for information 3:
a. How many staff work exclusively on processing Pension Age Disability Payment?
b. In what grades are these staff?
Response
Requests for information 1, 2 and 3:
I have interpreted your request as relating to the number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) Social Security Scotland staff who are currently engaged in processing applications for Adult Disability Payment, Child Disability Payment and Pension Age Disability Payment.
You should be aware that staff support a range of activities, including pre- application processes, client advice and support, through telephony and other channels, payment and administrative processes, and supporting the performance and management activity related to service delivery.
Please find below a table which shows Full time Equivalent (FTE) and headcount for staff currently involved in processing these three disability benefits (Client Advisors and Case Managers). It does not include Team Leaders, Health and Social Care Practitioners or Performance Managers.
The data reflects our HR records as of 1 November 2025, incorporating all staff changes reported in October 2025.
It should also be noted that Social Security Scotland staff work flexibly across benefit lines and are deployed on an agile basis to meet demands. Therefore, the below table shows the number of FTE staff processing applications as at 1 November 2025, but should not be interpreted as a constant or historical staffing level for these benefits.
| Child Disability Payment | Adult Disability Payment | Pension Age Disability Payment | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade | Headcount | FTE | Headcount | FTE | Headcount | FTE |
| A3 | 97 | 89.9 | 325 | 299.3 | 120 | 116.1 |
| B1 | 150 | 143.6 | 449 | 429.8 | 113 | 109.8 |
| Total | 247 | 233.5 | 774 | 729.0 | 233 | 225.9 |
About FOI
Social Security Scotland is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. The Scottish Government also publishes responses to requests.