Information on Social Security Scotland expenditure: FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
FOI Reference: FOI/202600504427
Date received: 19 January 2026
Date responded: 2 March 2026
Information requested
Request for information 1:
The total amount spent on corporate functions by your organisation in the financial years 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26 to date. Please also break this down by the type of function – for example, human resources.
Request for information 2:
The total amount of money spent fixing/replacing broken equipment in the financial years 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26 to date.
Request for information 3:
The total financial loss to your organisation on written off inventory and IT equipment in the financial years 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26 to date.
Request for information 4:
The total amount of money spent on consultants by your organisation in the financial years 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26 to date.
Request for information 5:
The total amount of money spent on agency staff by your organisation in the financial years 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26 to date.
Request for information 6:
The total amount of money spent on recruitment agencies by your organisation in the financial years 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26 to date.
Request for information 7:
The total amount of money spent on social media advertising by your organisation in the financial years 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26 to date. Please provide the reason for the advertising in each case if possible.
Request for information 8:
The total amount of compensation payments made by your organisation in the financial years 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26 to date.
Response
Request for information 1:
The information you have requested is available from Public bodies' corporate function data, data as at financial year 2022-2023 - gov.scot. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.
An exemption under section 27(1) of FOISA applies to the information requested for the total amount spent on corporate functions by your organisation in the financial years 2023-24 and 2024-25 because we intend to publish that information in March which is within 12 weeks of the date of your request. We consider that it is reasonable to withhold the information until that date, rather than release this routinely published information before the planned publication date.
This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. We recognise that there is some public interest in release and this will be met by our planned publication. In the meantime, there is a greater public interest in taking the time necessary to ensure the information has been properly collated and checked before it is published as planned. Also, we see no public interest in disrupting our programme of work to release the information ahead of the intended publication date.
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Social Security Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested. We hold no record of this information for financial year 2021-2022.
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Social Security Scotland does not have the information you have requested.
Request for information 2:
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Social Security Scotland does not have the information you have requested for the total amount of money spent fixing/replacing broken equipment in the financial years 2021-2022, 2022-2023, 2023-2024, 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 to date.
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Social Security Scotland does not have the information you have requested.
To advise and assist you, Annual Report and Accounts 2025 lists total office accommodation costs on page 83.
Request for information 3:
We have interpreted your request to relate to IT equipment adjustments.
The majority of our IT equipment (assets) are fully depreciated when decommissioned.
Most of the information is provided in our Annual Accounts:
Annual Report and Account 2021-2022 page 94
Annual Report and Account 2022-2023 page 84
Annual Report and Account 2023-2024 page 76
Annual Report and Accounts 2024-2025 page 85
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Social Security Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested. Smaller items such as headsets were written off during the scope of your request, however, we do not hold record of the financial amount.
We also have not yet calculated IT equipment adjustments for the financial year 2025 to January 2026.
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Social Security Scotland does not have the information you have requested.
Request for information 4:
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Social Security Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested. This is because there was no consultancy spend recorded for the years 2020-2021 and 2021-2022.
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Social Security Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested.
Expenditure on External Consultancy in 2022-2023 was £0.009 million.
Some of the information you have requested is available from our Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24 – page 54 (Table 16) and our Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25 – Page 63 (Table 17). Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.
Please note all figures have been rounded to the nearest £1,000.
Request for information 5:
We have interpreted your request to relate to interim workers.
Most of the information you have requested is available from the links provided below. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.
Annual Report and Account 2021-2022 page 91
Annual Report and Account 2022-2023 page 81
Annual Report and Account 2023-2024 page 73
Annual Report and Accounts 2024-2025 page 82
In the financial year 2025 to January 2026 spend on interim workers was £5.7 million
Request for information 6:
We have interpreted your request to relate to instances where we have engaged a recruitment agency to run an external campaign on our behalf. We have not used any recruitment agency to recruit permanent staff across the period of your request.
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Social Security Scotland does not have the information you have requested. We have not used any recruitment agency to recruit permanent staff during this period.
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Social Security Scotland does not have the information you have requested.
Request for information 7:
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the costs of locating, retrieving and providing the information requested would exceed the upper cost limit of £600. The information requested, specifically social media advertising, is not held in a readily accessible format and locating it would require a manual review of a substantial volume of individual invoices. Under section 12 of FOISA public authorities are not required to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying would exceed the upper cost limit, which is currently set at £600 by Regulations made under section 12.
You may, however, wish to consider reducing the scope of your request in order that the costs can be brought below £600. For example, narrowing the time frame. You may also find it helpful to look at the Scottish Information Commissioner's 'Tips for requesting information under FOI and the EIRs' on his website at: https://www.foi.scot/how-do-i-ask
Request for information 8:
We have interpreted your request to relate to Civil Service and other Compensation Scheme (exit packages).
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Social Security Scotland does not have the information you have requested. This is because there were no departures under the Civil Service Compensation Scheme rules across the period of your request.
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Social Security Scotland does not have the information you have requested.
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.