GO Justice

GO Justice is now recruiting students to support with the research for a project designed in partnership with Citizens Advice Scotland, entitled 'The Commercialisation of Advice Services for Social Security Claimants'. This project is overseen by Professor Nicole Busby.

Research Context

Citizens Advice Scotland recently highlighted the growing presence of private firms offering a ‘no win, no fee’ service to access social security payments. Private, for-profit organisations target social security claimants via social media campaigns to offer support ad advice in their claims for payments such as Adult Disability Payment (ADP). 

Rather than operating free of charge, as the Citizens Advice network in Scotland does,  private commercial providers often offer a ‘no win, no fee’ arrangement resulting in charges of up to £400 plus VAT per successful application. This can represent as much as 10% of claimants' payments each month.

Although not unlawful, these practicals can result in the loss of essential income, often for those most in need who may be particularly vulnerable to exploitation. There is no system of quality control for such providers. In contrast to the extensive well-renowned training provided for advisers who operate through the Citizens Advice network, commercial providers are not subject to any training requirements regarding the complexities of the benefits system and may rely on generative AI and other non-authoritative information sources to provide incorrect and misleading advice.

Research focus: 

This project will explore such practices in order to establish:

• The nature and extent of the commercialisation of social security advice-giving in Scotland
• The impacts of such practices on individuals, families and communities  
• Levels of awareness of such practices among those involved in administering the social security service in Scotland.

The project’s output will be in the form of a report outlining our findings and recommendations regarding future actions. As well as conducting and writing up the research, student researchers will be named as co-authors of the report.

We're excited to support this work and offer this opportunity to students in the Law School, to develop their research skills and contribute to a project which affects the material conditions of people across Scotland.

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First published: 30 September 2026