BENEFITS CREW ARE RAKING IN £1k A DAY
Anger over bumper set-up payments
FATCAT workers are pocketing up to £1000 a day helping to implement Scotland’s new benefits system for the poor. And dozens of contractors and consultants have been earning a daily rate of about £750 working on the multi-billion-pound project. The payments were slammed last night by Labour MSP Mark Griffin. He said:
“The people these powers are meant to help can only dream of cashing a Social Security Scotland cheque worth £1000 a day and will be disgusted.
“Something has gone badly wrong and it’s time ministers explained why so much public money is being frittered away.”
The new Social Security Scotland agency will administer 14 benefits, support 1.4million people and provide about £3.5billion of assistance every year. However, the Government has been criticised over the soaring set-up costs for the system.
Initial estimates suggest creating a welfare state in Scotland would cost about £308million but this has more than doubled to £651million.
Temporary staff in the Government’s social security directorate have also been paid huge sums for their services. As of
November, 79 “contingent” workers were on a day rate of between £250 and £499, with a further 74 earning up to £749 a day. In addition, 14 contractors received between £750 and £999 a day, with one person getting more than £1000 per day.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We are recruiting specialist contractors whose skills are in short supply across the UK.”