Dr Jim McCormick is the Scotland member of the Social Security Advisory Committee. He is Associate Director for Scotland with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and an advisory board member to Business in the Community (BITC) Scotland. In February 2017 the Scottish Government appointed Jim as chair of the independent Disability and Carers’ Benefits Expert Advisory Group. He was previously a member of the Commission on Local Tax Reform and Director of independent think tank the Scottish Council Foundation.
Committee members went to Scotland at the start of the month, four years since our last visit. In 2015, we looked at the early pilots of Universal Support, heard from Jobcentre staff at the height of Jobseeker’s Allowance sanctions and …
The next phase of Universal Credit will see the ‘managed migration’ of almost three million people, most of whom are currently claiming tax credits or Employment Support Allowance. It is a big, complex endeavour – one that the Committee will …