Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
FOI Reference: FOI/202500456033
Date received: 6 March 2025
Date responded: 3 April 2025
Information request
Request for information 1: The amount of error cases which have been reported to any workers of Social Security Scotland over the past four months (November 2024, December 2024, January 2024, February 2024).
Request for information 2: What the most common reason for these error cases has been over the past four months (November 2024, December 2024, January 2024, February 2024).
Request for information 3: The estimated financial cost incurred by those who were supposed to receive payments but failed to receive the correct amount by a result of your errors over the past four months (November 2024, December 2024, January 2024, February 2024).
Response
We have interpreted your request to relate to the period November 2024 to February 2025.
Request for information 1:
7,746 error cases have been recorded from November 2024 to February 2025. This figure includes underpayments and overpayments.
Request for information 2:
Underpayments
Month | Most common reasons | |
November 2024 | Official Error | Processing Error – Evidence updated Incorrectly |
December 2024 | Official Error | Processing Error – Evidence updated Incorrectly |
January 2025 | Official Error | Processing Error – Evidence updated Incorrectly |
February 2025 | Official Error | Processing Error – Evidence updated Incorrectly |
Overpayments
Month | Most common reasons | |
November 2024 | Client Induced - Good Faith | Undeclared Loss of Qualifying Benefit |
December 2024 | Client Induced - Good Faith | Undeclared Loss of Qualifying Benefit |
January 2025 | Client Induced - Good Faith | Undeclared Loss of Qualifying Benefit |
February 2025 | Client Induced - Good Faith | Undeclared Loss of Qualifying Benefit |
Request for information 3:
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 clients will receive all payments they are entitled to once errors are corrected.
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. You can view the responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.