Thread by @SalWitcher

I honeslty don't think the public & many politicians in Scotland/ Scottish MPs realise just how devastating this could be for people in Scotland & (any) @scotgov 's ability to exercise devolved power to diverge from Westminster. 🧵

https://twitter.com/RichardBurgon/status/1935336512012550399

This isn't just about a massive cut to Scotland's budget (the fact it isn't happening right away is irrelevant), but because of how closely intertwined the 2 systems are, with eligibility for devolved benefits contingent on getting reserved ones and vice versa.

So if the PIP assessment is to be how you get Universal Credit additional health/ incapacity payments, how does that work if Adult Disability Payment, Scotland's currently very similar version of PIP is no longer the same?

Would ADP recipients in Scotland who want to apply for Universal Credit (UC is not devolved so still claimed by people in Scotland) have to undergo a PIP assessment if Scottish Gov doesn't cut ADP in the same way as PIP is to be cut?

Conversely, if more ADP recipients than PIP recipients could get UC health/ incapacity payments that would mean more cost for the UK Gov. Under the fiscal framework (financial arrangements between the 2 govs) if one creates cost for the other, the perpetrator has to pay.

The loss of funding due to PIP cuts could make it very hard for any Scottish gov to sustain current provision, let alone make (much needed) improvements to ADP to ensure people with significant functional limitations who struggle to qualify can get support

An independent review of ADP, launched last Feb, is due to report next month. In view of the scale of cuts, how could any recommended improvements be funded? The cuts could totally pull the rug on over a year's hard work carried out in good faith gov.scot/groups/adult-d…

There is a further potential problem. PIP is a passport to getting Carers allowance, i.e. if the person you care for gets PIP an unpaid carer can get Carers allowance (subject to other criteria also being fulfilled). So if a person loses PIP, their carer also loses their benefit.

Carers alloance also opens the door to UC additional carer element. So that goes too. Loss of PIP, Carers allowance and both sets of UC additions amounts to a huge loss of household income.

Like PIP, carers allowance is devolved to Scotland. Scottish gov has also created additional payments for carers, including young carers. It might want to make improvements to the Scottish carers allowance equivalent too. So what happens to Scottish carers benefits?

Presumably anticipated loss of carers allowance due to PIP cuts would mean a cut of related funding for Scotland. So to keep existing levels of Scottish ADP & carers benefits, including additional grants, could mean finding an impossible amount to reallocate from with itts budget

Then if ADP stays the same and more Scottish carers thus get Scotland's version of carers allowance, what would that mean for Scottish carers accessing the UC carers element? Would they have to be reassessed too??

Where this seems to end up is that the impact of the UK Gov's cuts could have a disproportionately bad impact on Scotlnd, because Scot gov has chosen, quite appropriately, to use devolved powers to improve support for disabled people and carers.

People in Scotland will disproportionately lose more because more people have more to lose, due to having much-needed better support through the devolved system. It clearly exposes how precarious is the exercise of devolved power to diverge from Westminster.

The more investment Scot gov makes in better public services, to make improvements to much needed support, the more vulnerable that becomes to Westminster cuts and the more power Westminster has to pull the rug.

So when the UK Sec of State for Scotland washes his hands of responsibility for the fall out, he needs to be robustly challenged. The UK Gov has totally moved the goalposts & the result could be to drive a coach & horses through devolved social security [mixed metaphor alert!]

Someone may care to remind him of Labour Manifesto commitments to strengthen Scottish democracy and devolution, and “ensure the voice of Scotland is properly heard on issues under the competence of the UK Government”.

This thread is just me trying to think it through. Perhaps I've misunderstood & my fears are groundless. I sincerely hope so! But please can someone extract clarification from the UK gov on what this really means for Scotland. 🙏

Just been told that there's already a big problem with Cares UC anyway. If a carer in the rest if the UK claims UC, it makes no difference if they claim Carers Allowance or not - they get can get the carers premium even if they don't get CA, But..

in Scotland if the claim Carers Support Payment they lose UC £ for £. So Scot Gov pays part of the UC bill in Scotland (carers in Scotland being better off claiming CSP so they get the additional carers payment) but that's not reimbursed via the fiscal framework.

Just had another thought- think @BobDorisSNP floated something like this at the @SP_SJSS the other day, perhaps it would simplify matters for both govts if disability & carers UC etc additions were devolved to Scotland. Needs more thought to ensure no complex adverse consequences

@scotgov @threadreaderapp unroll please 🙏