The Scottish Government has set out plans for a £250m a year shake-up of social security in an independent Scotland.

Shirley Anne Somerville told journalists she was confident that the radical overhaul could be up and running within five years of independence.

READ MORE: Leaving UK 'could ensure everyone has a decent standard of living,' says Somerville

Opposition politicians questioned why ministers were dedicating resources to fixing benefits in a hypothetical scenario when the SNP-Green administration is still struggling to use all the powers over welfare devolved in the Scotland Act.

There were also questions over the cost.

According to the Scottish Fiscal Commission, under devolution spending on social security in Scotland is currently forecast to increase from £5.3bn in 2023-24 to £7.8bn in 2028-29.

By 2027-28, they expect the Scottish Government to spend £1.3bn more on social security than the funding received from the UK Government through consequentials.

The new paper is the ninth instalment in the ‘Building a new Scotland’ prospectus.

While it looks at social security, it does not deal with pensions.

The government says that proposals on pensions “will be made available in a later paper,” due out in the new year.

Chris McEleny, the General Secretary of Alex Salmond's Alba party, said it was "inept" not to mention pensions. 

"The independence movement and the Scottish people deserve better," he tweeted. 

READ MORE: 'Many who face poverty are among the finest individuals we could meet'

'Social security in an independent Scotland' sets out ten “key actions to reform Universal Credit and improve carer and disability benefits with an aim to increase the financial value of benefits.”

These include scrapping the two-child limit and the corresponding rape clause, as well as the benefit cap.

It also would do away with sanctions and end the young parent penalty in Universal Credit which sees under 25s receive a lower rate of benefits than over 25s.

The paper also sets out an ambition to eventually move to what it describes as a “social democratic approach” to welfare, which would see “universal systems based on an equality of high standards and not an equality of minimal needs.”

Speaking to journalists at the launch of the paper in the Govan, Ms Somerville said: “I hope that this does very much demonstrate the real difference that independence can make to people's lives.

“Under devolution, we've managed with the powers that we have to have 90,000 fewer children in poverty than would otherwise be.

“We've got a UK Government on the other hand, that are pushing people and children in particular into poverty.”

Asked how long it would take, Ms Somervile said she believed it could be “done in the early years” of independence.

Pushed to say exactly how long that could be, she said: “You could absolutely have that done within five years.”

She pointed to the Scottish Child Payment which was “introduced from the initial policy discussion to implementation in 18 months.”

The paper sets out the estimated cost of the immediate reforms as “over £250m in 2023-24.”

It goes on to say “This is not insignificant in itself but needs to be seen in the context of the £24.7bn spent on social security in Scotland by the UK and Scottish governments in the same year.”

Asked about the cost, Ms Somerville said she saw social security as “an investment in people.”

She added: “We need to actually recognise that having social security benefits is something that a state is obligated to do and should do because it should be there for any of us in our time of need.”

Speaking alongside, Ms Somerville, Independence Minister, Jamie Hepburn said: “No one is suggesting that there aren't challenges as we move towards becoming an independent country.

“But I'll tell you what, if we weren't facing challenges in Scotland right now then why would we be seeking to become an independent country? So that we can respond to them so that we can create a fairer and better more decent society.”

Asked about the decision to scrap sanctions, and if that would mean there would be no punishment for anyone not seeking work despite being able to, Ms Somerville said evidence suggested the current system "does not put people into work" but rather pushes them into poverty. 

"You have a level of Universal Credit that doesn't allow you to have the essentials in life, and then the state sanctions you so you're even further below that. I would question whether anybody that's been marked to a level of destitution, whether that puts them in a good place to then seek employment?"

READ MORE: Destitution Scotland: Scotgov Welfare benefits 'keeping rates low''

Responding to the publication, Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Willie Rennie said: “If this paper was a rare moment of honesty from the SNP, listing their string on failures on social security, I might see the point in it.

"Rather than seizing the opportunity to immediately deliver a fairer system, the Scottish Government will take a decade to put their new social security powers to use.

“They also did away with a Cabinet level position focused on social security.

“Now, Scots applying for the Adult Disability Payment are facing waiting times more than double what they are in England and Wales.”

Pamela Nash, chief executive of Scotland in Union, said the paper had “no credibility”.

She added: “Many want a fairer system for social security. But the best way to achieve this is growing our economy, and pooling and sharing our resources across the UK."

Scottish Tory social security spokesman Miles Briggs said the paper should be “filed under fantasy fiction”.

He said: “Ministers have a brass neck to be wasting yet more taxpayers’ money and resources publishing this paper when they are failing right now to use the extensive welfare powers they have at their disposal.

“They have produced a series of pie-in-the-sky proposals with no details as to how they would be paid for – and astonishingly nothing on pensions – all to push their obsession with independence.”

Scottish Green MSP Maggie Chapman welcomed the proposals. 

“We have tried to do things differently in Scotland, with the child payment and the mitigation of the cruel benefit cap and the bedroom tax," she said. "But we shouldn’t just be offsetting Tory cuts. With independence we can build a far fairer and better country where people are born into better opportunities and can age with security and stability."