Welfare benefits IT contract delayed

An IT contract to d el iver Scotland’s new welfare benefits has been hit by a delay, MSPS have been told.

Social security minister J ea ne Freeman said the setback had been caused by a delay in the handing over of a code.

She said it was an example of actions of the Department f or Work and Pensions ( DWP) having “a negative knock- on effect”.

She told Holy rood’ s Social Security Committee that the incident would not alter the timetable for the first wave of devolved benefits to be delivered but had amplified concerns over how the DWP was prioritising the handover.

The Social Security Act, unanimously passed by MSPS last week, hands control of 11 benefits to Holyrood. An £ 8.3 million twoyear contract was awarded to IBM in November last year to deliver a case management system for the first wave of the benefits by summer 2019.

Ms Freeman said she had written to the committee “to explain a delay in the transfer over of a code that has caused us some delay in the deliver y of the contract that we have undertaken with IBM”.

The minister insisted that the Scottish Government’s plans for delivery of the first wave of benefits were “on track”.