Scottish Child Payment and the Labour Market - update 2026

Evaluation evidence

Impact of Scottish Child Payment on reported work outcomes

The Five Family Payments evaluation^[5] involved survey and interview research with SCP recipients, conducted from October 2024 to January 2025. In the survey, recipients were asked how SCP helped them with work. Where relevant, it also asked how SCP helped their partner with work. They were presented with a range of options, and could select more than one option.

The results in the table below show SCP impacted work in different ways. Most respondents selected ‘not applicable/no impact’ for both themselves (69%) and their partner (72%). Otherwise, the results show:

• SCP helped a minority of respondents to sustain or increase their labour market activity. For example, 14% said the payments helped them with work costs, while 7% said it helped them to stay in work.
• SCP helped a minority of respondents to reduce their labour market activity. For example, 4% said it helped them to stop work or work fewer hours, while 3% said it helped them to take a longer parental leave.

Interviews and open-text survey responses provided more detail on how SCP impacted work. The findings show the payments helped people to sustain or increase work by paying for lunches, commuting expenses, and childcare costs. Others could afford to reduce labour market engagement by working part-time, choosing not to increase hours, or stopping work altogether. In these cases, participants could afford to spend more time with their children, look after a disabled child, or work around the needs of their children.

It has meant I have been able to remain on my 28hr contract, working hours around caring for my children, since my separation. Without it I would have had to increase to full time hours and due to lack of child care availability in our area (rural) and cost, the boys would have had to be left home alone for a few hours before/after school. (Survey respondent)

The qualitative findings also highlight that, in certain cases, SCP can discourage people from increasing income from paid work if they are close to losing eligibility for Universal Credit due to work-related earnings. This is because it would also make them ineligible for SCP and possibly worse-off overall.

...the slightest movement in my salary could impact it. It wouldn't just be a case of losing that £50 on the Universal Credit, it would then impact on the Scottish Child Payment. Actually, this year I even asked my line manager not to move me up my annual pay award band because it would have meant maybe a £30 or £40 a month addition on my salary for myself, but it would have cost me around £300 in benefits.(Parent and carer interview)

Gender and the impact of Scottish Child Payment on reported work outcomes

After the evaluation was published, further survey analysis was undertaken to explore if women and men reported different work outcomes as a result of SCP. It was based on responses to the same multiple choice survey question outlined above. The analysis was conducted for all respondents, but also for specifically respondents in lone parent families and two parent families. The results are summarised below, and the full paper of findings is provided in Annex A.

The analysis found no meaningful gender difference between:

• The proportion of women and men of those that answered ‘not applicable/no impact’ for how SCP impacted their own work situation
• The proportion of women and men of those that answered ‘helped with work costs’.
• How respondents said SCP impacted their partners’ work situation, across all of the response options.

However, the following gender differences were identified in the analysis:

• Overall, men were more likely than women (16% vs 9%) to report SCP helped them to either stay in work and work more hours, or look for work or start work. In part, the difference was concentrated amongst women and men who worked part-time.
• Amongst lone parents, men were also more likely than women (17% vs 8%) to report SCP helped them to either stay in work and work more hours, or look for work or start work. The difference was not explained by other demographics, potentially indicating lone mothers faced unmeasured barriers not faced by lone fathers.
• In two parent families, women were more likely than men (10% vs 4%) to report SCP helped them to either stop work or work fewer hours, or take a longer parental leave. In part, the difference was concentrated amongst households with a child aged under 1.

These findings could be linked with the division of childcare responsibilities. This is especially likely for the finding that women in two parent families with an infant child are more likely to reduce labour market activity. Wider evidence shows that women in heterosexual couples often reduce paid work after childbirth, even when they are the main earner.^[6] However, further research is needed to explain why men in part-time employment, and lone fathers, are more likely to increase work activity than their female equivalents, in cases where they receive SCP.

It should also be noted that observed gender effects were modest (albeit statistically significant), and related to only a minority of SCP recipients overall. Additionally, due to the comparatively small sample of men who completed the survey, the results of this analysis should be treated with caution.