Information relating to late benefit payments: FOI release

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002

FOI Reference: FOI/202500466956
Date received: 19 May 2025
Date responded: 17 June 2025

Information requested

Late payment breakdown report for the calendar years 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025. Please include the following information:

Request for information 1: Number of late Benefit payments made, broken down by benefit

Request for information 2: How long each payment was delayed by. You can break this down by whatever duration categories you use to measure late payments, and state how many payments fell under each duration category, for each benefit.

Request for information 3: What is defined as late internally for each of the benefits you administer

Request for information 4: The value of late payments – e.g the monetary value of the late benefit payments, broken down by benefit, per calendar year

If you only hold information by financial year, this is also acceptable (so 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25, 2025-date.

Response

Request for information 3: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) process payments on Social Security Scotland’s behalf. Social Security Scotland provide payment information to DWP which includes a payment due date. When the payment is not achievable, DWP flag these payments and report these to us. To assist you, these figures have been provided below.

You may find it helpful to know that some delays in payment are necessary due to safeguarding considerations for vulnerable clients. We also undertake an enhanced approval process for high value payments; although these may miss the payment due date these are not classified as late payments.

These payments are included within the information provided in the below tables.

Requests for information 1, 2 and 4: 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. To locate and retrieve the information requested would require us to interrogate the individual cases below. 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. 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

Year 2020-21

Benefit Type	Volume of Late and Delayed Payments	Value of Late and Delayed Payments	Average Days Delayed	Maximum Days Delayed
Best Start Grant	30	£8,200.00	23	44
Child Winter Heating Payment	74	£14,800.00	4	15
Funeral Support Payment	138	£297,143.27	21	262
Scottish Child Payment	33	£2,920.00	1	2
Young Carer Grant	2	£610.20	3	3
Job Start Payment	1	£400.00	1	1

Year 2021-22

Benefit Type	Volume of Late and Delayed Payments	Value of Late and Delayed Payments	Average Days Delayed	Maximum Days Delayed
Best Start Grant	54	£17,864.00	2	15
Child Winter Heating Payment	163	£32,758.00	4	23
Funeral Support Payment	108	£265,583.74	13	332
Scottish Child Payment	166	£40,550.00	4	53
Young Carer Grant	11	£3,389.65	4	13
Job Start Payment	7	£2,676.50	2	8
Child Disability Payment	82	£13,805.81	4	18

Year 2022-23

Benefit Type	Volume of Late and Delayed Payments	Value of Late and Delayed Payments	Average Days Delayed	Maximum Days Delayed
Best Start Grant	20	£10,800.60	5	14
Child Winter Heating Payment	7	£1,474.50	8	34
Funeral Support Payment	76	£206,333.70	41	799
Scottish Child Payment	614	£547,285.00	3	71
Young Carer Grant	48	£15,642.20	3	13
Job Start Payment	15	£6,423.75	2	4
Child Disability Payment	584	£99,713.03	4	68
Adult Disability Payment	350	£73,380.36	2	19
Winter Heating Payment	107	£5,350.00	4	13

Year 2023-24

Benefit Type	Volume of Late and Delayed Payments	Value of Late and Delayed Payments	Average Days Delayed	Maximum Days Delayed
Best Start Grant	11	£6,391.40	2	8
Child Winter Heating Payment	18	£7,870.20	71	127
Funeral Support Payment	41	£122,414.50	2	9
Scottish Child Payment	560	£799,691.00	4	104
Young Carer Grant	1	£325.65	2	2
Job Start Payment	1	£294.70	1	1
Child Disability Payment	385	£1,741,034.31	4	219
Adult Disability Payment	1829	£8,387,016.02	5	54
Winter Heating Payment	129	£7,295.95	2	2

Year 2024-25

Benefit Type	Volume of Late and Delayed Payments	Value of Late and Delayed Payments	Average Days Delayed	Maximum Days Delayed
Best Start Grant	6	£5,157.00	7	18
Child Winter Heating Payment	25	£11,559.00	27	166
Funeral Support Payment	19	£57,427.58	3	19
Scottish Child Payment	303	£306,281.46	9	947
Child Disability Payment	375	£1,455,098.45	9	749
Adult Disability Payment	1885	£8,902,973.55	5	216
Winter Heating Payment	494	£33,495.75	8	471
Pension Age Disability Payment	1	£434.20	9	9
Carer Support Payment	81	£138,302.10	5	28

2025-26 Year to Date*

Benefit Type	Volume of Late and Delayed Payments	Value of Late and Delayed Payments	Average Days Delayed	Maximum Days Delayed
Child Winter Heating Payment	5	£2,436.00	5	37
Scottish Child Payment	67	£26,294.25	39	77
Child Disability Payment	178	£302,109.52	9	369
Adult Disability Payment	273	£1,211,380.33	7	70
Winter Heating Payment	5	£348.80	3	7
Pension Age Disability Payment	6	£15,893.23	26	55
Carer Support Payment	74	£171,465.90	6	41

* Year to Date as of 27/05/2025

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.