Scottish Child Payment
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On 15 February 2021 we introduced the Scottish Child Payment for low-income families with children under six as part of our work on tackling child poverty. It was initially set at a rate of £10 per week per child with no limit to the number of eligible children.
In March 2022 we published “Best Start, Bright Futures: tackling child poverty delivery plan 2022 to 2026” in which we committed to doubling the value of the Scottish Child Payment from April 2022, delivering the benefit in full to all eligible children under the age of 16 and further increasing the value to £25 per child, per week, by the end of 2022. These commitments were delivered on 14 November 2022.
Scottish Child Payment is administered by Social Security Scotland through an application-based process, and is paid on a four-weekly basis.
Applications can be submitted through mygov.scot.
Statistics and forecasts
The Scottish Fiscal Commission published their updated forecasts for the Scottish Child Payment on 9 December 2022, as part of Scotland’s Economic and Fiscal Forecast which accompanies the Scottish Government’s Budget.
Official statistics for Scottish Child Payment are published quarterly, giving figures for applications and caseload in that period.
Regulations
The continued policy development, service design, and input from the Scottish Commission on Social Security (SCoSS) has supported the development of the original Scottish Child Payment
Regulations which came into force as Scottish Statutory Instruments on 9 November 2020. This has been followed by subsequent amending regulations for which input has been provided.
The first Regulations were accompanied by a suite of Impact Assessments:
- an Equality Impact Assessment
- a Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment
- an Islands Communities Impact Assessment
- a Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment
- a Fairer Scotland Duty Assessment
In February 2021, Social Security Scotland published the Scottish Child Payment operational guidance which can be found on the Social Security Scotland website.
A copy of the Scottish Government’s response to the initial recommendations from SCoSS was published on 8 September 2020.
The Scottish Child Payment Amendment Regulations 2021
These amendment regulations for Scottish Child Payment came into effect on 15 January 2021.
These changes ensure the regulations allow for processes which meet the policy intent. Firstly they align payment cycles to ensure that a client receives payment for all children named on a claim on the same day. Secondly, they provide that people who have a nil award of a qualifying benefit as a result of sanctions or deductions due to liabilities will be eligible for the Scottish Child Payment
A copy of the Scottish Government’s response to recommendations from SCoSS was published on 26 November 2020.
The Best Start Grants and Scottish Child Payment (Miscellaneous Amendment) Regulations 2021
These amendment regulations for Scottish Child Payment came into effect on 23 December 2021. The changes allow a greater degree of discretion in how Social Security Scotland considers competing claims and will help ensure the payment is made to the person with responsibility for the child to whom a claim relates.
A copy of the Scottish Government’s response to recommendations from SCoSS was published on 26 November 2020.
The Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2022
These amendment regulations came into force in November 2022, impacting the Five Family Payments, which include Scottish Child Payment, Best Start Foods and the three Best Start Grants. They provided for the extension of Scottish Child Payment to children aged 6-15 and made a number of changes to these benefits including the automatic payments of Best Start Grant’s Early Learning Payment and School Age Payment.
A draft of the regulations was provided to SCoSS with an accompanying letter and policy note on 1 April 2022.
An updated suite of combined impact assessments for the Five Family Payments was published alongside the finalised regulations in 2022: