Five years after Holyrood passed its Social Security Bill, Jackie Baillie has accused the SNP of  “breaking its promise to Scotland”.

The bill was heralded as a “historic” by the SNP – but five years on progress has been woeful, with swathes of payments still stuck in the hands of the DWP and, those being delivered in Scotland, are in a state of chaos.

A number of devolved social security powers are still going unused after the SNP handed responsibility for key payments back to the DWP, with the UK government expected to retain responsibility for Carer’s Allowance until 2025.

The most recent Social Security Scotland accounts reveal that the organisation paid the DWP an eyewatering £76.5 million to deliver Scottish payments in 2021-22.

Where payments have been devolved, the new system has often delivered an even worse service than the draconian DWP.

Waits for Adult Disability Payments in Scotland are even longer than those for PIP in England, while thousands of Scots are at risk of receiving less in Winter Heating Payments this winter than they would have under the old system.

The Scottish Government has also kicked a number of promises into the long grass, including their pledge to deliver split Universal Credit payments to prevent financial abuse.

Despite grossly under-delivering, costs have soared – including a £39 million overspend on the IT system alone.

This shambles stands in sharp contrast to what the SNP promised – with Shirley-Anne Somerville saying five years ago that the bill was “a great opportunity to forge a social security system that is infused with dignity, fairness and respect.”.

Dumbarton constituency MSP Jackie Baillie said: “The SNP has broken its promise to Scotland with its disastrous failure to use our social security powers.

“Five years on, people across Scotland including in West Dunbartonshire, Helensburgh and Lomond are at the mercy of the cruel and callous Tory-run DWP and the delivery of the payments the SNP Government have taken on has been a costly shambles.

“Disabled people are waiting months for lifeline support and people are at risk of being short-changed on cold weather support during the worst cost of living crisis in decades. This is completely unacceptable.

“The SNP promised us something different, but all this incompetent SNP government has done is replace one broken system with another.”