Researching the Potential to Devolve the Administration of Social Security to Wales

Tender description

The Welsh Government wish to gain the services of a contractor to provide research that provides an overview of how the potential devolution of the administration of social security to the Welsh Government could be taken forward practically in Wales and the potential benefits and consequences of doing so. More specifically, the research should also focus on which specific elements of the social security system Welsh Government could realistically administer e.g., the assessment process for sickness and disability benefits or devolution of the functions of Jobcentre Plus. Please note that this research is not about the wholescale devolution of social security, rather it focuses on the devolution of administrative elements of the social security system. The research will adopt a phased approach to the research on devolution of the administration of social security, preparing for the early devolution of areas closest to existing devolved responsibilities. It will also consider the ‘administrative’ elements of groups of benefits that could be devolved e.g. working age payments, pension age payments. The contract will be 10 months in duration.