Governments clash over pension and welfare costs

The UK Government has raised concerns about the future cost of pensions and benefits in an independent Scotland.

SNP policy pledges and the impact of an ageing population would add about £450 more per working-age person each year over the next two decades, according to an analysis by the Department for Work and Pensions.

The total includes £410 more spending on pensioners and £40 more on workers.

The predictions, set out in the latest “Scotland analysis” paper, follow claims by former prime minister Gordon Brown that the pensions bill would be three times the income from oil.

The Scottish Government accused Westminster politicians of scaremongering while cutting an estimated £6 billion from welfare north of the border.

Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, said: “This country has a long history of a strong welfare state, which we can rightly be proud of.

“As part of the UK, Scottish people benefit from this resilient and unified system, which delivers the same support everywhere irrespective of peaks and troughs in economies of the nations or demographic differences.

“Proposals by the Scottish Government would risk the well-being of vulnerable people who are currently supported by this system.

“On top of the ageing population, which is increasing faster in Scotland than the rest of the UK, the Scottish Government are committing to spending even more on wider welfare without saying how they’ll pay for it.”

Scotland’s benefits bill, including childcare and tax credit, totalled £17.7 billion in 2012-13.

Spending was £60 more per person than in the UK as a whole, according to the report.

The UK Government also points to the higher proportion of pensioners in Scotland, which stands at 19.8% compared with 19.2% in the rest of the UK. Their projections suggest the share will rise faster north of the border by the early 2030s.

Scotland’s Deputy First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, criticised the UK Government analysis.

She said: “Welfare spending and pensions are more affordable in Scotland than the UK because they account for a smaller proportion of our tax revenues and national income.

“But now a Tory-led government that Scotland didn’t vote for is dismantling large parts of the post-war welfare state because of its right-wing ideology.

“This is social vandalism on a vast scale and shows why people are worse off when decisions about Scotland are taken at Westminster.”

The independence referendum will be held on September 18.