The Scottish Government has published the Benefit Take-Up Strategy for 2026-2031. The Coalition of Carers in Scotland and its members were pleased to feed in views to the strategy’s development through engagement session with policymakers, ensuring the experiences of unpaid carers were heard through the process.

The main aim of the strategy is to increase benefit take-up by making it easier for people to access and navigate so that people can get support when they need it before financial crisis happens. We’re pleased that the plan reinforces social security as a human right.

We’ve summarised the main points of the strategy below and we’ve also included a link to the entire document.

The strategy aims to help people to:

  • understand their rights and know what support they are entitled to
  • know where and how to access the support they are entitled to
  • feel safe, respected and confident accessing support
  • access support without needing to navigate complex systems alone
  • get the right support at the right time
  • experience a faster, simpler and more predictable application journey

There are four priority areas in the strategy including:

Data sharing, signposting and referrals

This area focuses on how services gather and use information and connect people to support. It will strengthen lawful and trusted data sharing, make signposting to additional relevant entitlements and services more consistent, and develop referral pathways where people need more active support than information alone can provide.

Signposting means making people aware of other relevant services, information or support that may be helpful. It does not involve Social Security Scotland sharing someone’s personal data with another organisation, and the next step remains with the person to decide whether and how to contact or access the service they have been signposted to. This is not a referral pathway, where information may be passed between services with the appropriate legal basis, consent and safeguards in place and someone may be proactively offered further relevant support as a result.

Pre-application support

This area focuses on the support people need before they apply. It will make understandable and accessible information, free and independent advice, advocacy and practical help easier to access at key life events through trusted organisations, local services and community settings.

Awareness raising, outreach and engagement

This area focuses on reaching people who are less likely to hear about, engage with or apply for support. It will use evidence, lived experience and local insight to tailor outreach effectively, while promoting accessible, culturally competent and stigma-free messages that reinforce social security as a human right. This is particularly important for ensuring that barriers to take-up are tackled for underserved groups.

Accessible processes and automation

This area focuses on making the journey into and through different stages of applying for and receiving entitlements and support that people are eligible for, simpler and less burdensome. It will improve accessibility, identify where processes can be simplified, and explore where automation or linked-entitlement approaches can reduce unnecessary applications, repeated evidence requests and avoidable administrative burdens for both clients and organisations.

Read the full strategy here.

An easy read version of the strategy can be found here.