SCOTTISH ministers have raised concerns over delays to the handover of welfare powers to Holyrood.

Social security minister Jeane Freeman said an agreement to give Scotland the power to scrap the bedroom tax had already been pushed back by a year.

It comes as she announced a right to independent advocacy services is to be extended to more people under Scotland’s new social security service.

The devolution of social security – described by the SNP as the "single biggest handover of power" since devolution – will see Holyrood take control of 11 benefits.

Control over the bedroom tax was expected to be brought in by 2019, the Scottish Government says, but the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) recently pushed this back by a year.

Ms Freeman said: "I'm not intending to imply any malicious intent by anybody, but the DWP have a lot on their plate and there's a lot that they have to do and they have priorities.

"What I have to constantly make sure is that we do not slip down that priority list. Of course, the letter that put the bedroom tax abolition back a year is a matter of concern and worry and that simply means that we need to up our efforts to be saying to the DWP, ‘We have our plans, you know what they are – we need to know that your plans to devolve those benefits to us continue to match ours in terms of the timings.’"