Staff at Social Security Scotland, the executive agency of the Scottish Government tasked with responsibility for social security provision, are struggling with the agency’s key IT system, according to Ministers.

Moreover, MSPs disclosed that there is a problematic lack of knowledge about the cost and timing required to replace the current system.

Yesterday, the SNP Government issued a “request for supplier information” to ascertain potential prices, build options and timescales to acquire new equipment.

Social Security Scotland’s internal Knowledge Management system (KM) is supposed to be “the single source of truth and first point of contact” for all guidance at the agency. KM is meant to provide the agency’s office and community staff with “policy documents, benefit information, eligibility criteria, links to legislation” and information about all job roles at the agency.

Ministers are due to take responsibility of the £3.5 billion of devolved benefits agency next April; however, they are only now exploring the marketplace options available, including whether or not to buy a commercial system off-the-shelf or build one from scratch.

In addition, the Government is also seeking information on “indicative costs, indicative timescales”, and types of software licences, despite the KM being priced at £400,000 in 2017. The Scottish Government says business feedback “will provide us with an understanding of available technologies, the art of the possible and potential delivery approaches and timescales”.

• Former West Lothian Chamber CEO Joins CodeClan
• Aberdeen Hospital Unveils ‘Cutting-Edge’ Surgical Robot
• Skyscanner SVP Appointed Chairman of Houseology

Doubtful of this approach, the Scottish Tories have voiced concern that it could be another IT disaster waiting to happen. It was also revealed that, at present, agency staff are already facing a number of challenges using the Scottish Government’s general intranet as an “interim solution”.

Search queries, spelling issues, overuse of acronyms, an inability to filter results or fine-tune the system are just some of the problems agency staff are facing.

Heavy use of acronyms means users struggle to find content when using everyday terms, as acronyms must be written in full, Ministers explained, adding that authoring is limited to a central team, meaning ad-hoc guidance is distributed by email.

The Government’s request for information said: “Working with clients, we have established that there is an expectation Social Security Scotland staff are ‘knowledgeable’ and ‘well-informed’ about the services being provided, and clients should receive consistent answers to questions no matter who they ask.

“Clients also expect staff to have a broad range of knowledge about benefits and wider knowledge of support networks which may be of use to clients.”

The KM solution ought to bring “together people, process and technology to create a knowledge hub which connects staff to information, and to each other, to ensure they have access to the right information to meet customer needs”.

Westminster legislation for devolved benefits was passed in 2016, but their full rollout has been repeatedly delayed by the Scottish Government and has most recently been pushed back to 2025. Delays have been attributed to staffing shortages and IT problems.

Tory MSP Michelle Ballantyne said: “It seems like the SNP is on the brink of another IT crisis entirely of its own making. This is clearly something the SNP government should have long ago sorted out. Instead, as usual, everything has been left to the last minute, and users of the system and staff will be forced to pick up the pieces.”

The Scottish LibDems said Social Security Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville “should explain why the Government is only turning its attention to this now and whether she is confident the new service will be delivered within budget and on time. The longer they faff about and delay, the longer vulnerable people on disability benefits have to suffer under a stressful and unfair system.”

The Scottish Government said: “The delivery on the IT infrastructure is on track and on budget and any suggestion to the contrary is ill-informed.”