A group of MS campaigners outside the Scottish Parliament

Campaigns in Scotland

With your help, we take action on the issues affecting people living with MS in Scotland.

Making Scotland’s new welfare system make sense

For the first time ever powers over some disability benefits are coming to Scotland. These include Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Carers Allowance. We’ve been asking you what you want to see in the new social security system, and you’ve told us:

less face to face assessments
lifetime awards
easier application forms
a system which is flexible to the needs of a fluctuating condition such as MS.

The Bill to establish a new Scottish social security system was passed in April 2018. It will be a while before it is fully up and running, but we’re working hard to make sure the voice of the MS community is heard and that the system works for people living with MS. Read about our response to the Government's consultation on the new social security system.

Get involved

Join our campaigns community for all the latest updates and actions on social security in Scotland.

Read about how we're campaigning across the UK to make welfare make sense.

Join our campaigns community

Stand up for people with MS

Access to treatments in Scotland

In Scotland, there are 12 disease modifying therapies (DMTs) available on the NHS for people with relapsing MS. However, our research shows that in Scotland only 57% of people that are eligible to take a DMT are currently taking one.

We've been finding out how people in Scotland with relapsing MS make decisions about whether to take a DMT, and which DMT to take. We published what we found in our report into prescribing practices for DMTs: Right Treatment, Right Time.

This year, the first treatment for people with early primary progressive MS, ocrelizumab, was licensed for use in the UK. It was also licensed for relapsing MS. In July, the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) decided that ocrelizumab won’t be available for relapsing MS on the NHS in Scotland. They felt its benefits weren’t worth how much the drug costs. After this decision, the drugs makers decided not to get the green light for it to be used for early primary progressive MS.

We’re working to understand the full reasons for these decisions, and will continue working with the SMC and others to see new submissions in future.

How do MS treatments get approved for the NHS in Scotland? Read our blog for an overview.

Questions about MS?

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