Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018

77 Duty to consider effects of inflation

(1) Before the end of each financial year, the Scottish Ministers must—

(a) calculate the inflation-adjusted level of each relevant figure,

(b) prepare a report that complies with subsection (2),

(c) lay a copy of the report before the Scottish Parliament, and

(d) make the report publicly available by such means as the Ministers consider appropriate.

(2) A report prepared under subsection (1)(b) complies with this subsection if it—

(a) states what the Scottish Ministers have most recently calculated to be the inflation-adjusted level of each relevant figure,

(b) explains how the Ministers calculated the inflation-adjusted levels, and

(c) states what (if anything) the Ministers have done, or intend to do, in light of their calculations and their reasons for that decision.

(3) In this section, “relevant figure” means―

(a) a figure prescribed in regulations under any section in Chapter 2 as the value, or part of the value, of the assistance that is to be given to an individual, but

(b) not a figure which is so prescribed to apply only in respect of periods that have ended, or events that occurred, before a particular date.

(4) The inflation-adjusted level of a figure prescribed in regulations is to be calculated for the purposes of this Chapter as follows—

where—

• f is the figure prescribed, and

• i is the number of percentage points which the Scottish Ministers consider reflects the change in the general level of relevant prices since a copy of a report was last laid before the Scottish Parliament under subsection (1)(c).

(5) It is for the Scottish Ministers to decide what prices are “relevant prices” in terms of subsection (4).

(6) For the purposes of preparing the first report under subsection (1)(b), the reference in subsection (4) to the last time a copy of a report was laid before the Scottish Parliament is to be read as a reference to the date on which the figure in question was prescribed.