SNP benefits scandal as residents in Malta, Spain and Latvia receive disability payments paid for by Scots taxpayers

Exclusive: 15 residents of European countries applied for and were successful in netting disability payments with up to £10,000 a year, despite not even living in Scotland.

NEWSDavid Walker Politics reporter21:00, 27 Jun 2026

Disability benefits are flowing abroad(Image: Jane Barlow/PA)

The SNP’s soft-touch approach to benefits has been condemned after it was revealed that 15 residents living in European countries are receiving disability payments, despite living abroad. These are being paid for by Scots taxpayers and was branded “scandalous” by critics.

Already, the Scottish Government’s welfare bill is at record levels and predicted to increase even further. This year, the social security budget was £7.4bn and its forecast to hit £9.2bn. More than half of this is spent on Adult Disability Payments (ADP), with the Scottish Fiscal Commission predicting that one million Scots would be in receipt of a disability payment of some kind by 2031. There is a gap between how much Westminster supplies for welfare and how much is spent, with this rising to £1.2bn in 2030/31.

Now, the Scottish Daily Express can reveal that across the last three years, 15 claimants applied for and had an ongoing award of a Scottish Disability Payment while resident in an European Economic Area, Switzerland or Gibraltar. These countries of residence were Spain, Latvia and Malta.

The benefits which had been applied for were Child Disability Payment, Adult Disability Payment and Pension Age Disability Payment. 10 of the applications were made in 2025. It means that a non-British resident could have claimed more than £10,000 a year.

But the likely number of foreign residents claiming benefits in Scotland is probably larger because it will cost too much money to find out where some claimants are living. This includes Carer Support Payment, Carer’s Allowance Supplement, Young Carer Grant and Child Winter Heating Payment.

The Scottish Tories slated this latest “scandalous” revelation. Scottish Conservative finance and social security spokesperson Craig Hoy MSP said: “This is a scandalous example of how easy it is to abuse the SNP’s free-for-all welfare system. Striving Scots shouldn’t have to pay even more tax to fund benefits for people who don’t even live here. That’s just common sense.

Scottish Conservative MSP Craig Hoy

“Benefits spending is ballooning out of control under the SNP, yet they keep reaching deeper into workers’ pockets to pay for it. We’re the only party prepared to say enough is enough, and that the welfare bill must be reined in.”

Social Security Scotland has been accused of having a “soft-touch” approach to handing out benefits, with claimants often allowed to just tick boxes to claim the likes of the Adult Disability Payment (ADP).One pound in every seven being spent by the SNP government goes on benefits. By the end of the decade, Scotland’s welfare bill will be almost £10 billion – a full billion pounds more than the funding for social security provided by the UK government.

Social Security Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville 

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The UK Government is party to a number of international agreements relating to social security that allow a small number of people to be eligible for support while abroad. The devolved social security system is equally covered by these agreements, and Scottish Ministers are under the same duties as those in the rest of the UK to adhere to the terms of those agreements.”