New additions -

Scotland Act 1998 (Agency Arrangements) (Specification) Order 2018 (SI.626/2018) - Allows the exercise of functions of the Scottish Ministers under section 22 of the Scotland Act 2016 (relating to benefits for disability, industrial injury and carers) to be specified so that they can be exercised by an 'agency arrangement' by the UK Government after executive competence passes to the Scottish Government by 1 April 2020

Universal Credit (Claims and Payments) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2017 (SSI.No.436/2017) - New regulations that provide for the extension of flexible payment arrangements for universal credit claimants in Scotland.

Universal Credit (Claims and Payments) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 (SI.No.227/2017) - New regulations that provide for the right to request twice monthly payments of universal credit and direct payment of housing costs to landlords.

Universal credit: Scotland

This page sets out legislation that is relevant to welfare reform and universal credit specifically relating to Scotland. Universal credit full service is now fully rolled out in Scotland as it is in the rest of the UK. The only differences in Scotland are in relation to payment flexibilities – you can find detail about how these payment flexibilities work in Scotland in our payment section.

Welfare Reform Act 2012 – Scotland
Scotland Act 2016
Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018
Secondary Legislation - Scottish payment flexibilities

Welfare Reform Act 2012 – Scotland

The Welfare Reform Act 2012 broadly applies only to England, Wales and Scotland. There are a couple of exceptions to this set out in Section 149 Welfare Reform Act 2012:

Scotland Act 2016

The Scotland Act 2016 received Royal Assent on 24 March 2016. The Act sets out the powers that are being transferred to the Scottish Parliament or Scottish Ministers. Part 3 of the Act relates to welfare benefits with Sections 29 and 30 relating specifically to Universal Credit. There is also a power to create other new benefits under Section 28.

You can find the Bill as introduced, amendments, debate transcripts and explanatory notes on the Parliament UK website.

The first set of regulations, laid on 14 July 2016, set out the timetable for the transfer to Holyrood of a number of welfare powers, including the ability to:

The majority of these powers transfer on 5 September 2016. Discretionary housing payments transfer on 1 April 2017.

In April 2017, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions wrote to the Scottish Social Security Committee concerning the transfer of powers.

The full text of the letter is available on the Scottish Parliament website.

Since then, the following regulations have been published:

which implement these commitments. SI 626/2018 sets out the functions that will be exercisable by Scottish Ministers under Section 22 of the Scotland Act as soon as executive competence transfers from UK Ministers to Scottish Ministers at the end of the specified period.

Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018

The Bill was originally introduced by the Cabinet Secretary for Communities, Social Security and Equalities, Angela Constance MSP on 20 June 2017.

The Bill set out an over-arching legislative framework for the administration of social security in Scotland. It was brought forward as a result of measures following changes to the devolution settlement enacted in the Scotland Act 2016. These measures give the Scottish Parliament legislative competence over disability, industrial injuries and carer's benefits, benefits for maternity, funeral and heating expenses and Discretionary Housing Payments. They also provide for the ability to top up benefits which remain reserved to the UK Parliament and allow new benefits to be created in certain areas. 

As a result, eleven existing social security benefits will become a devolved responsibility. They are:

All documents associated with the passing of the Act can be found on the Scottish Parliament website. The Act can be found using the link below:

Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018

Secondary Legislation - Scottish payment flexibilities

Last reviewed/updated 1 July 2022