On 1 April 2020, the Scottish Parliament approved emergency legislation to help businesses, public services and people through the Covid-19 pandemic.

Measures include helping to ensure that Social Security Scotland clients are not disadvantaged as a result of the coronavirus outbreak and are able to claim assistance to which they are entitled and which they may have missed out on if late applications were not allowed.

Changes, which came into force on 7 April 2020, include temporarily relaxing certain time limits.

Where original time limits have not been met directly as a result of Covid-19, the measures temporarily relax time limits in relation to:

• making an application for assistance
• a request by a client for a re-determination
• a decision on a re-determination
• appealing to the First tier Tribunal.

Additionally, the Coronavirus (Scotland) 2020 Act provides Social Security Scotland extra time to complete a re-determination.

Social Security Scotland will continue to make all re-determinations as quickly as is possible under the circumstances, as the Act requires Social Security Scotland to make the re-determination as soon as reasonably practicable within a new extended timescale of an additional 9 weeks on top of the current 16 working days.

The temporary extension to the deadline for Social Security Scotland to process re-determinations expired for new re-determination requests on 30 September 2021.