5 ways we would use Scotland’s social security powers

The Scottish Parliament has major new powers over tax and social security. Labour doesn’t want these powers to gather dust on the shelf. But that is exactly what is happening while the SNP obsesses about another divisive independence referendum.

We want to use Holyrood’s powers to make Scotland a fairer place to live.

So here are 5 ways we would use the new powers over social security to boost incomes and build a fairer nation.

1.  Boot the private sector out of Scotland’s social security system:

The private sector has profited from delivering cruel and inhumane disability benefit assessments. Labour wants to use our powers to see them booted out of the Scottish social security system. That’s why we will amend the forthcoming Social Security Bill to ensure, in law, that the private contractors are removed from the system.

2.   Boost Child Benefit by £240 per year by the end of the decade:

The best way to make Scotland fairer is to stay in the UK and use the powers of the Scottish Parliament. That’s why last month Kezia Dugdale set out our plan to use the new powers of our Parliament to boost Child Benefit by an extra £240 per year by 2021. This move will lift tens of thousands of children out of poverty, and put money back into the pockets of families who have seen incomes flat-line under the SNP.

3.  Set a legal duty to ensure everyone gets what they are entitled to:

Rather than the system working against Scots, we want to see it work for people. That’s why we want a legal duty on the government which ensures that everyone gets the benefits they are entitled to.  Scots miss out on £2 billion worth of social security payments a year. Getting that cash to families could make a huge difference to thousands.

4.  Protect WASPI women from State Pension changes:

At both Holyrood and Westminster, it is only Labour that has a real plan to reverse the Tories’ punitive pension reform which has left thousands of women worse off each simply because of their age.  We’d use the new top-up powers to reverse the £6 a week cut women born between April 1951 and 1953 face compared to men, and UK Labour would extend Pension Credit to WASPI women affected by George Osborne’s pension cuts.

5.  Give carers the support they deserve:

Every party at Holyrood has backed plans to boost Carer’s Allowance by £600 a year.  More than 6 months after SNP Ministers got the power to just that, all they have done is commission a feasibility study.  While carers are left in the dark, the Nationalists can’t and won’t say when it will be paid. Not a single MSP would stand in the way of this increase. Labour wants thousands of carers who have been promised the increase to get more than just warm words.

Like our plans? Then join today and let’s fight for a fairer Scotland in the UK.