Guidance relating to £500 payments for social care workers in Scotland published
02 February 2021
Guidance has been published, and an online application form made available, relating to the one-off payment of £500 that will be made to social care workers in Scotland, which was introduced as a way of saying thank you to health and social care staff for their hard work during the coronavirus pandemic.
Scotland Excel is working in conjunction with the Scottish Government to process the £500 payment in the social care sector. Social care providers should complete the online form in relation to any eligible employees, but this process is only for eligible independent and voluntary providers of social care services in Scotland that are registered with the Care Inspectorate. It does not include local government services, hospices, or personal assistants, and the Scottish Government intends to confirm the details of separate processes for those groups in due course.
The deadline for the submission of forms is 23:59 on 15 February 2021. Where any technical issues are encountered when completing the form, the Technical Support link that is provided should be used. For any queries relating to the eligibility criteria, there is an 'Additional Information' document available, and there is also a Frequently Asked Questions page.
Scotland Excel may request further information and / or supporting evidence in order to validate any submitted forms. Claimants are advised to retain a breakdown of their staffing numbers (both headcount and Full Time Equivalent (FTE)), for each individual service included in their submission. This is in case further information is required by Scotland Excel.
Those using the service are advised that they should only contact Scottish Government at [email protected] with any new queries that aren’t addressed within the Online Form Guidance or Frequently Asked Questions, and similarly that the Government will not be able to respond to individual questions but that guidance will be updated regularly, as and when required. The Scottish Government has also confirmed that questions directed to their mailbox could potentially not be responded to within the timescales required, so the best course of action for claimants is to read the guidance in the first instance.
The information in this article is accurate at the time of publication. For all the latest information, news and resources on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting payroll professions, visit our Coronavirus hub.