Number of civil servants hired to run SNP’s benefits agency soars... to over 4,000!
Scotland's welfare agency is becoming one the fastest growing employers in the country – with more than 4,000 staff paid to oversee the ever-increasing bill for benefits.
Social Security Scotland has expanded more than ten-fold in six years. And with welfare payments expected soon to top £9 billion a year, the quango now has a record 4,150 staff on its payroll.
The agency has repeatedly come under fire for paying out millions of pounds in error and for failing to crack down on fraud.
Now urgent action has been demanded to rein in the mounting cost of benefits and the number of staff to administer them.
Scottish Conservative social security spokesman Alexander Stewart said: ‘Hard-pressed Scots will rightly question why this ever-growing army of publicly funded employees is needed to administer a benefits system that is already spiralling towards £9 billion a year.
‘This simply isn’t sustainable and shows why urgent action is needed to rein in the SNP’s out-of-control welfare spending.’
Social Security Scotland has expanded more than ten-fold in six years
Social Security Scotland chief executive David Wallace earns more than £100,000 a year
Based in Dundee, Social Security Scotland is an executive agency of the Scottish Government and was set up by the SNP in 2018.
Although many core benefits, such as Income Support, continue to be overseen by the UK government’s Department of Work and Pensions, Social Security Scotland looks after the growing number of welfare payments controlled by the Scottish Government.
These include benefits for children and families, such as the Scottish Child Payment.
It also includes warm home payments, support for unpaid carers and also support for young people starting out in new jobs.
From last year, the quango also took on responsibility for most disability benefits.
Latest figures on public sector employment show Social Security Scotland’s extraordinary expansion. At the beginning of 2019 it employed just 350 staff. By the end of last year the headcount had risen to 4,150.
As a result, the welfare agency is now a bigger employer than many councils and is roughly twice the size of other public bodies such as the Crown Office, the court service and NHS24.
In the Scottish Budget earlier this year, Finance Secretary Shona Robison said that total spending on social security would rise from £6.79 billion in 2025/26 to £7.23 billion in 2026/27.
Official forecasts suggest the bill is further set to rise to £8.94 billion a year by 2029/30.
In November, Social Security Scotland’s annual report showed that the agency had overpaid claimants £14.25 million in the previous year.
The quango’s operating costs also increased by 9.9 per cent to £291.1 million.
That included a pay rise for chief executive David Wallace, who now takes home between £115,000 and £120,000, plus taxpayer-funded pension contributions of £75,000 a year.
A Social Security Scotland spokesman last night said the agency could not comment on its rising staff levels because of impartiality rules during an election campaign.
The SNP also declined to directly discuss the agency’s headcount. However, Holyrood candidate Paul McLennan said: ‘Unlike the Tories, Scotland has balanced its budget every year under the SNP.’
