Decision Report 202311106

Summary

C complained about delays in Social Security Scotland switching their child (A)’s payment of Child Disability Payment (CDP) to their bank account after A moved in with them. Social Security Scotland continued paying Child Disability Payment to C’s ex-partner and did not process the change for over three months from the date that C notified them of the change. C complained that as a result, A did not receive payment of Child Disability Payment for over two months.

We found that when C reported that A was living with them, Social Security Scotland told C that they were working to get a process in place for these changes and that they would progress C’s request and would contact C. However, they did not do so for over two months until C followed this up. We found that Social Security Scotland unreasonably delayed in changing responsibility for CDP. We upheld the complaint.

Recommendations

What we asked the organisation to do in this case:

• Apologise to C for the delay in reimbursing them. The apology should meet the standards set out in the SPSO guidelines on apology available at www.spso.org.uk/meaningful apologies.
• Reimburse C for the amount of Child Disability Payment that A was entitled to.

What we said should change to put things right in future:

• When a change in responsibility for Child Disability Payment is reported to SSS, they should ensure that this is actioned without unreasonable delay.