The reservation describes social security not in terms of benefits for specific purposes but in terms of the power and responsibilities which underlie any type of social security provision as follows:
The reservation has been cast in this way to make allowance for changes over time in the exact scope and coverage of the UK-wide social security system, and the way in which benefits are delivered.  For example, in recent years some benefits previously provided directly by central government (such as sickness or maternity benefit) have been replaced by a structure of requirements on employers to make defined payments to their employees.  Similarly some new benefits (such as Disability Living Allowance) have been established.  The reservation, which needs to be read together with the definition of social security purposes in the interpretation paragraph, makes allowance for changes of this kind.
The provision of compensation for injury resulting from vaccination, as provided for by the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme, which are paid through the same channels as social security, is also reserved.
The current law on social security covers the following matters, some of which are given as examples in the illustrations paragraph (which is not intended to be exhaustive of all the matters covered by the reservation):
Section 110 provides the Secretary of State (for Social Security) the power to take account of the implications of varied Scottish rates of income tax (as may be provided for under Part IV of the Scotland Act) for social security, child support and pensions purposes and to determine whether a person is to be treated as a Scottish taxpayer and to specify what shall be treated as the Scottish rate of tax in any year of assessment.  The purpose of these provisions is primarily to ensure that benefit decisions can be made promptly without uncertainty over the appropriate tax rate to apply where tax is relevant to benefit entitlement.
TABLE OF RESERVED MATTERS SECTIONS General