𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Taxpayers are bankrolling an “out of control” benefits system in Scotland with the SNP Government funnelling cash into welfare programmes “with abandon”, the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) has warned. It has calculated a jobless couple in Glasgow with three children can receive combined work and health benefits worth £45,500 – the equivalent of a pre-tax salary of £69,000.

The think tank founded by former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith pushes for a new approach which uses less cash and delivers better results, warning that Scotland has the “highest proportion of children in long-term workless households across Great Britain and higher economic inactivity than England”. Public spending per head in Scotland in 2024-25 was £2,669 higher than the UK average, with more than £600million “spent on benefits unique to Scotland”.

Nearly a decade after major welfare powers were devolved to Scotland, the CSJ says Scotland is “spending significantly more than the rest of the UK on a ‘smorgasbord’ of conflicting benefits and entitlements”. It claims “persistent child poverty” is running at 23% – “more than double the Scottish Government’s 8% target”. The CSJ reports that Scotland has the “highest proportion of children living in long-term workless households in Great Britain at 11.3%”.

Meanwhile, it says welfare spending has “ballooned out of control”. The CSJ is urging the Edinburgh-based Government to restrict eligibility to disability benefits for those with less severe mental health conditions.

Ben Gregg, head of welfare at the think tank, said: “The Scottish Government has missed its own child poverty targets, while pushing economic inactivity in Scotland from below to above England. The system is over-budget, overly complex, and failing on its own terms. With Holyrood elections this year, there is a real opportunity to create a much leaner, far more effective system, focused on changing lives and tackling the root causes of poverty.”

Shimeon Lee of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Devolution was promoted as a mean to improve the lot of the Scots, yet their grossly irresponsible government has time and time and again showed the contempt it has for taxpayers both in Scotland and across the UK. To think that England is not the worst impacted part of the UK by the benefits crisis is truly staggering, given how severe things are south of the border. Westminster should be cutting the cash available to the Scottish Government until it gets its house in order, even if this move would be soaked in hypocrisy given the scale of the problem in England.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Social security is a vital safety net that anyone may rely upon throughout their lives. The Scottish Government has balanced its Budget every year and continues to put ending child poverty at the heart of its spending plans. In 2026-27, a majority of taxpayers in Scotland can expect to pay less income tax than in the rest of the UK. Scotland’s unemployment rate remains lower than the UK and the number of payrolled employees is high in comparison with historical trends.”

The think tank’s new report – Benefitting Scotland? – sets out proposals to save more than £800million, “freeing up funds to treat mental health conditions properly, help parents into work, and support families out of material deprivation”.

It warns that without reform “Scotland risks wasting this opportunity to be truly innovative and steal a march on the rest of the UK.”

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