Scottish Ministers have set 15 December 2025 for a public consultation on how new benefit audit powers should work, after signing the Commencement No. 2 Regulations. The order starts Section 18 of the Social Security (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2025 solely so the consultation can proceed, not to activate the powers themselves.

Stripped of legalese, Section 18 adds new sections 87B–87E to the 2018 Act. It would allow Ministers to ask a sample of people receiving Scottish benefits for information to measure fraud and error across the system, with requests taken by interview, phone or-where set in rules-in writing, and the data used only for that audit purpose.

Before any requests happen, the law requires a public consultation on who should never be asked for information-likely to include groups considered vulnerable-followed by regulations that MSPs must approve. Holyrood’s Delegated Powers Committee pushed for this duty; Ministers agreed during the Bill’s passage.

“Nobody will ever have their assistance stopped purely for not engaging,” Shirley‑Anne Somerville wrote to MSPs last year, stressing the measure is an internal auditing tool rather than a fraud crackdown. That assurance will be tested-and refined-through the consultation.

For readers across the North, the immediate take‑away is simple: nothing changes on 15 December except the start of the public consultation. Random audit interviews will not begin until detailed rules are agreed and a further commencement order brings the wider powers fully into force.

So why move now? Audit Scotland has warned that Social Security Scotland cannot reliably estimate client‑induced error and fraud without a legal duty to take part in sampling-contributing to qualified audit opinions each year since 2018‑19. The Scottish Government’s accounts explain the work underway to build those estimates.

There’s a cross‑border angle too. South of the Border, DWP’s fraud and error statistics already rely on compulsory interviews for sampled cases, typically 30 minutes to two hours. Scotland’s consultation will need to weigh robust data against dignity, accessibility and cost.

When fully commenced, Section 18 will let Ministers set the form of any response, create a right to ask for a request to be withdrawn, and-only after clear notice-suspend payments if someone repeatedly ignores a lawful request, with review rights built in. These safeguards will sit alongside any exemption list shaped by the consultation.

For border communities moving between Carlisle and Dumfries or Berwick and Eyemouth, this is about devolved Scottish benefits-such as Adult Disability Payment and Scottish Child Payment-not UK‑wide DWP schemes. Eligibility rules aren’t changing; this is about how Scotland measures fraud and error in its own system.

Ministers intend to publish the consultation on 15 December. Advice agencies, councils and housing associations should ready case studies on what ‘vulnerability’ ought to mean in practice and how appointments should work, so lived experience shapes the final rulebook.