EXCLUSIVE: Labour MSP Paul O'Kane has accused the Scottish Government of a 'botched' implementation of benefits.
The latest “technology” forecast is nearly £280m - a huge rise compared to earlier estimates. Scottish Labour MSP Paul O’Kane said “These spiralling costs are draining money that should be going into people’s pockets.
A deal struck after the independence referendum led to a suite of benefits getting devolved to Holyrood. These included lifeline payments for disabled people, carers, parents and the elderly. Scottish Liberal Democrat social security spokesperson Caron Lindsay said: "This IT system is in real danger of becoming an expensive disaster. The devolution of social security powers to Scotland was supposed to allow for a more humane system that would deliver support to people in a smooth and efficient manner.
"The Agency also recently introduced the Winter Heating Payment which provides a reliable annual payment of £55 to around 400,000 people every winter. When you look at the total spent on Social Security, both the running costs for Social Security Scotland and the one off investment in implementation, the forecasted costs for 2018-2026 have actually fallen by 0.5%.
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