Section 2: Care experience assistance
12.Section 2 of the Act inserts a new section 93A into the 2018 Act, giving a regulation-making power to the Scottish Ministers to create a scheme providing for a new kind of social security assistance for individuals with experience of being in the care system, known as “care experience assistance”. This regulation-making power is subject to the affirmative procedure. The power allows flexibility as to who would deliver care experience assistance in practice.
13.An example of what having had experience of being in the care system could mean would be an individual who has been looked after by a local authority (within the meaning given by section 17(6) of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995) – or an individual who has been subject to a kinship care order (within the meaning given by section 72 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014).
14.The detail of the scheme would be set out in the regulations. Subsection (3) of inserted section 93A sets out that provision can be made in the regulations for who is to administer the scheme; how entitlement is to be determined; the amount of assistance; the process by which assistance is sought and determined; what happens if assistance is given incorrectly; and creating offences. Subsections (4) to (7) make equivalent provision on the application of offences to these regulations as section 80A of the 2018 Act on “top-ups” of reserved benefits.
15.Subsection (9) of inserted section 93A provides that Ministers have the power to give directions to the person administering the scheme for care experience assistance in relation to the implementation of the scheme; that the administrators must comply with Ministerial directions; and that Ministers must publish any directions that they give.
