Chapter 7 (Uprating for inflation)
113.Section 77 provides that each financial year (as defined in schedule 1 of the Interpretation and Legislative Reform (Scotland) Act 2010), the Scottish Ministers must calculate the inflation-adjusted level of the rates of assistance created by Part 2. Subsection (4) sets out how the inflation-adjusted level of a figure is to be calculated; it essentially entails increasing (or decreasing) the figure by a percentage which reflects, in the Scottish Ministers’ opinion, the general percentage change in prices over a period. Once the inflation-adjusted levels of the assistance rates have been calculated, subsection (1) requires the Ministers to lay before the Scottish Parliament, and make publicly available, a report setting out their calculations and stating what they have done, or intend to do, in light of the exercise. Those actions and intentions will have to take account of the duty that section 78 imposes for particular types of assistance.
114.Section 78(1) places the Scottish Ministers under a duty to bring forward legislation to increase carer’s assistance, disability assistance, employment-injury assistance and funeral expense assistance rates where, and to whatever extent that, the exercise of calculating the inflation-adjusted levels for those assistance types under section 77 reveals that the prevailing rates are materially below their inflation-adjusted levels. The duty to bring forward legislation means laying before the Scottish Parliament for its approval draft regulations that would increase the assistance rates (see subsection (2)). Because the regulations are subject to the affirmative procedure (see section 96), the Scottish Ministers can make them only if the Parliament approves them in draft. If the Parliament does approve the draft regulations, subsection (3) requires that the Ministers make the regulations so that the rate changes take effect.
