Reforms to Scottish disability payments suggest that the system can be kinder without being costlier 8 December 2025 Adult Disability Payments (ADP), which were introduced in Scotland in 2022 to replace Personal Independence Payments (PIP), show that it may be possible to implement a claimant-centred and dignified disability benefit system without significantly driving up costs and caseloads, according to new analysis from the Resolution Foundation published today (Monday). Delivering dignity? – funded by the Health Foundation – examines how the introduction of ADP has impacted claimants’ experiences, and its subsequent impact on the caseload and cost of disability benefits in Scotland. These early lessons from ADP can help policy makers across the UK, and especially the Timms Review which is currently assessing whether PIP in England and Wales is “fair and fit for the future”. While the eligibility criteria and rates of payment for ADP are the same as PIP, there are key differences in delivery. Social Security Scotland (SSS) set out to make ADP assessments a more dignified and claimant-centred experience. This appears to be bearing fruit, with claimants describing ADP as “a breath of fresh air” compared to PIP. Although early evidence raised some concerns, now ADP has ‘bedded-in’ the data does not suggest it is a ‘soft-touch’ benefit. Comparing the ADP and PIP systems, the Foundation finds: ADP applications have increased at a very similar rate to PIP applications in England and Wales since the Scottish benefit was introduced in 2022 (11 per cent vs 10 per cent). Policy makers North and South of the border are rightly concerned with the scale of this rise, but the new benefit does not appear to be materially driving the increase. Although higher in its first full year of operation, ADP award rates (i.e. the proportion of new applications that result in benefits being paid) are now lower than for PIP (37 per cent compared to 42 per cent across 2025 so far). In 2025, only 16 per cent of ADP claimants requested a redetermination – half as many as the one-in-three (32 per cent) who challenged PIP decisions three years after that benefit launched. However, ADP claimants win more often when they challenge decisions. Two-in-five ADP reconsiderations (41 per cent) overturn the original decision in the claimant’s favour, compared to fewer than one-in-five PIP challenges (17 per cent). More generous enhanced awards are made less often by ADP decision makers than PIP decision makers. For new ADP claimants in 2025, 44 per cent of mobility awards, and 35 per cent of daily living awards, were paid at the enhanced level, compared to 54 per cent of mobility awards, and 42 per cent of daily living awards, for new PIP claimants. The decision to conduct only ‘light-touch’ reviews of ADP claimants initially resulted in few flowing off the benefit, and raised concerns about long-term costs. But the most recent data presents a more nuanced picture. The gap in review outcomes between new ADP and PIP claimants has fallen from a high of 26 percentage points in the summer of 2024 (7 per cent and 33 per cent negative review outcomes), to just 2 percentage points in the summer of 2025 (12 per cent and 14 per cent). Overall, the report finds that the Scottish Government spent 6 per cent (£141 million) more than the notional allocation on ADP in 2023-24, a figure that is largely ascribed to the costs incurred in the ‘bedding-in’ period. The Foundation cautions, however, that any spending above the notional allocation requires careful monitoring to assess whether this difference reflects longer claim-durations stemming from ‘light-touch’ reviews, or other systemic issues. As things stand, however, the authors note that the largely convergent trends and costs across the two systems demonstrate that improvements to claimant experience are not intrinsically at odds with keeping caseloads and costs under control. Louise Murphy, Senior Economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: “The recent reform of adult disability benefits in Scotland offers valuable lessons to policy makers in the rest of the UK. Although eligibility and rates of pay for this type of support are consistent across the UK, the new application process has been welcomed by claimants as granting them greater dignity than before. “After an initial ‘bedding-in’ period when applications and awards spiked, award rates are now slightly lower in Scotland than in England and Wales, as are the number of awards paid at a more generous enhanced level. “With the Timms Review due to recommend reforms to PIP in 2026, the recent changes in Scotland suggest that reforms which provide claimants with more dignity don’t necessarily result in significantly higher costs for Government.” Dave Finch, Assistant Director at the Health Foundation, said: “There is much for the UK government to learn from Scotland’s reforms to disability benefits. Ensuring the dignity and the voices of disabled people are core to the design of the social security system that supports them can minimise the distress and mental health strain from the process of claiming those benefits, as has been observed with PIP. And as this analysis shows that doesn’t necessarily lead to higher spend.”
