According to legislation.gov.uk, SSI 2026/274 is the Social Security (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2025 (Commencement No. 3) Regulations 2026, published as a Scottish Statutory Instrument and due to take effect on 2 November 2026. It is the third commencement order made under the 2025 Act. (legislation.gov.uk)
The legal change is narrow but important. Regulation 2 appoints 2 November 2026 as the date on which section 19 of the Social Security (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2025 comes into force only so that Scottish Ministers can make further regulations under the new provisions inserted into the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018. Legislation.gov.uk’s summary of the instrument states that the commencement is only for exercising the regulation-making powers in new Part 6A. (legislation.gov.uk)
Section 19 is the part of the 2025 Act that creates the statutory basis for recovery of the value of certain devolved assistance from compensation payments linked to accident, injury or disease. The Act inserts sections 94A to 94W and schedule 12 into the 2018 Act, and the Explanatory Notes say the scheme is designed to apply where compensation is due and relevant assistance has been paid during a five-year relevant period. Those Notes also explain that a compensator must obtain a certificate of recoverable assistance before payment is made. (legislation.gov.uk)
For practitioners, the immediate significance lies in the delegated powers now being opened. The amended regulation-making section in the 2018 Act shows that future Scottish regulations can deal with matters such as excluded payments, treatment of lump-sum schemes, the definition of relevant assistance, certificate timing, review and reconsideration procedures, timescales where there are multiple compensation payments, and the treatment of cross-border cases. The Explanatory Notes also confirm that new powers exist for information requirements and investigations connected with compensation recovery. (legislation.gov.uk)
This means SSI 2026/274 is a preparatory commencement rather than the start of the operational recovery regime. It does not itself require compensators to pay sums to the Scottish Ministers, does not itself reduce compensation awards, and does not change entitlement to devolved assistance on 2 November 2026. That reading follows from the instrument’s limited wording and from the way section 19 is structured in the 2025 Act. (legislation.gov.uk)
The scheme that sits behind the commencement is detailed. The Explanatory Notes say certificates of recoverable assistance are central to the calculation process; compensation is reduced by reference to specified heads of compensation and linked amounts of recoverable assistance; and there are formal routes for review, reconsideration and appeal. The same Notes say the Scottish framework is also intended to interact with equivalent recovery regimes elsewhere in the UK where both systems may touch the same case. (legislation.gov.uk)
In policy terms, the instrument continues a staged implementation model for the 2025 Act. The Scottish Government’s progress report states that the Act received Royal Assent on 23 January 2025, while earlier commencement regulations brought selected provisions into force on 10 May 2025 and brought section 18 into force on 15 December 2025 only for consultation. SSI 2026/274 follows the same approach: ministers receive the power to draft the detailed rules first, with the full compensation recovery regime to follow through later secondary legislation and wider commencement. (gov.scot)