Scotland updates disability and carer transfer rules

From Thursday 6 November 2025, Scotland changes how disability and carer benefits move across borders. The Social Security (Cross‑border Provision, Case Transfer and Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2025 (SSI 2025/336) were made on 4 November and approved by the Scottish Parliament after the required notifications to the Scottish Commission on Social Security. If you receive PIP, DLA, Attendance Allowance or Carer’s Allowance-or their Scottish equivalents-this affects you.

Here is the headline change you need to know: automatic ‘case transfers’ from UK‑run benefits to Scottish benefits are being phased out. In most cases you will now apply for the Scottish payment yourself. To protect you from gaps, the law builds in backdating so your Scottish award can start from when your UK award stopped-if you meet the new timelines.

Who this touches in day‑to‑day terms: if you move to Scotland while on Personal Independence Payment, you’ll apply for Adult Disability Payment. If you’re under 18 and on Disability Living Allowance, you’ll apply for Child Disability Payment. If you’re on Attendance Allowance you’ll apply for Pension Age Disability Payment. If you’re a carer on Carer’s Allowance you’ll apply for Carer Support Payment. There are also updates to Best Start Grant, Best Start Foods, Young Carer Grant and the Carer’s Allowance Supplement.

Backdating when you move works to set dates. For Child Disability Payment, your entitlement can begin on the day your DLA ended if your full name and date of birth reach ministers within 26 weeks of your move and your application arrives within 32 weeks. For Adult Disability Payment and Pension Age Disability Payment the ‘details within 26 weeks’ rule is the same, but you have 34 weeks to apply; PADP starts from the day after your Attendance Allowance stopped. For Carer Support Payment, apply within 26 weeks of the move and your start date is the first day of the ‘award week’ in which Carer’s Allowance stopped. Where you miss a deadline but have a good reason, ministers can accept a late date.

If your transfer should have happened but didn’t, the regulations create safety‑nets. For people on DLA immediately before 7 July 2023 there are new routes into Child Disability Payment (regulations 35A and 35B). For people on PIP or Carer’s Allowance immediately before 6 November 2025 there are routes into Adult Disability Payment (52A/52B) and Carer Support Payment (41A/41B). For people on Attendance Allowance or adult DLA immediately before 23 February 2026 there are routes into Pension Age Disability Payment (44A/44B) and Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance (47A/47B). In many of these cases, once ministers become aware, they must make a determination without an application.

The ‘missed transfer’ clock usually starts when the Scottish Government becomes aware that a UK award was not transferred. From that point, expect a 26‑week window to get your basic details logged and roughly 32–34 weeks to apply (or to make a formal request for the Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance). Meet those windows and your Scottish award is backdated to when your UK award ended.

Awards can now end from the date a suspension began if you disengage. For Scottish Child Payment and for disability assistance, when payments are suspended because information is requested under the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 and you do not respond, and a decision later confirms you are not entitled, the end date can be the suspension date. This is designed to stop overpayments building up. Decisions and suspensions made before 6 November 2025 keep the old position.

Families with EU Settlement Scheme routes are brought in more clearly. Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods now cover people with pending, valid EU Settlement Scheme applications and certain family members under Article 9 of the Withdrawal Agreement. If you or your partner are habitually resident in the EEA or Switzerland and hold leave under the EU Settlement Scheme, you can meet the residence requirement under the updated rules.

Cross‑border coordination has widened to include Gibraltar. People covered by the UK–Gibraltar Social Security Order 2024 can now be eligible for disability assistance, Young Carer Grant and the Carer’s Allowance Supplement. The law aligns definitions so that the Gibraltar agreement is treated alongside other coordination rules, removing grey areas for people moving between Scotland and Gibraltar.

Carer Support Payment gains two practical fixes. First, where you applied in time but did not quite meet the eligibility rules on the earliest start date, ministers can pick a later start date within 13 weeks after your application so you are not penalised for timing. Second, a temporary stop in entitlement can apply if the cared‑for person’s disability benefit changes during the move to Scotland or the key cut‑over dates (7 July 2023, 6 November 2025 and 23 February 2026). This aims to avoid unfair breaks while the cared‑for person’s new award is settled.

If you are at or beyond the ‘relevant age’, pay attention to mobility. Where you were over the relevant age on your move date-or on 6 November 2025 or 23 February 2026 for the special transfer routes-the mobility component in your Scottish award can be limited to what you previously had and cannot be newly added if there was no mobility component before. That preserves previous rates but does not create new mobility entitlement after pension age.

Timing matters. Most changes take effect from Thursday 6 November 2025. A second set-mainly affecting Pension Age Disability Payment and Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance-takes effect on Monday 23 February 2026. If you already received a formal notice saying your case would be transferred under the old scheme, that transfer can continue under the previous rules until completion.

What to have ready. Keep a clear note of your date of move and the day your UK benefit ended, and make sure Social Security Scotland receives your full name and date of birth quickly. Save any letters that state when the Government ‘became aware’ of your situation-those letters can start the backdating clock. If you are close to a deadline, set out your reasons; the regulations let ministers accept late information where there is good reason.

A quick word on award weeks for carers. If you care for someone on Constant Attendance Allowance, your Carer Support Payment ‘award week’ runs Wednesday to Saturday. In all other cases it runs Monday to Saturday. When backdating, the payment anchors to the first day of the relevant award week.

For learners and families, the takeaway is practical. The shift from automatic transfer to ‘apply with backdating’ puts more control-and more responsibility-into your hands. Act within the 26‑, 32‑ and 34‑week windows, keep your evidence, and your entitlement should flow without gaps as you move within the UK. If you are unsure, ask Social Security Scotland or a trusted advice service to double‑check your dates.

How we know. This explainer is based on SSI 2025/336, signed on 4 November 2025 by a member of the Scottish Government after consulting Welsh Ministers and notifying the Scottish Commission on Social Security. The dates and timelines we quote are fixed in that instrument, which is why we’ve set them out plainly here.