‘RUNAWAY’ WELFARE SPENDING SURGES TO

£23,000,000,000

SCOTLAND’S soaring welfare bill has passed £23 billion for the first time – as the SNP plots an increasingly generous system.

Taxpayers already foot a bill equivalent to £4,332 per head north of the Border – £300 more than the UK average, according to the latest Treasury figures.

The Scottish bill, which includes pensions, housing and jobless benefits, has risen by 8 per cent in four years, a faster rate of increase than in the rest of the UK.

The SNP has vowed not to follow the UK’s tough approach to getting people off benefits and into work. Government sources have told The Mail on Sunday it is looking at ways to get around the £20,000 household cap – aimed at stopping jobless families earning more than their working neighbours – which will remain reserved to Westminster.

Social Security Minister Jeane Freeman has even called for the word ‘benefits’ to be banned, in case it stigmatises the unemployed.

A huge number of welfare powers, including discretionary housing payments, attendance allowance, disability living allowance and carer’s allowance, are being transferred to Holyrood. Scotland will also be able to create new benefits and top up those reserved to Westminster.

Scottish Tory social security spokesman Adam Tomkins said ‘contrary to SNP claims, spending on welfare is actually increasing’.

He added: ‘When Scotland gets these powers, there is going to be incredible pressure on the system.’

Eben Wilson, of campaign group Taxpayer-Scotland, warned against ‘runaway’ welfare costs, adding: ‘The approach is simply spend and spend, and then spend more.’

The figures are contained in the Treasury’s ‘social protection’ budget. The Office for National Statistics defines this as ‘financial assistance and services provided to those in need or at risk of hardship’.

It adds: ‘Assistance is provided through direct measures such as benefits payments, tax credits or pensions, payments in kind such as free prescriptions, and the provision of services such as local authority home-care help.’

The Scottish Government argued the actual bill is smaller than the figures suggest, as the social protection budget includes spending which it would not class as welfare. A spokeswoman said: ‘These claims are a clear misrepresentation of the figures. The UK Government spends £18 billion in Scotland and our new powers, combined with the block grant adjustment, means (we) will have control of 15 per cent of that which we’ll use to best suit the needs of the people of Scotland.’

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said it would work with the Scottish Government ‘to ensure that devolution works for the people of Scotland and the UK’.

‘The approach is spend, spend and spend more’