Social Security assistance - effects of inflation: report 2021-2022

8. Uprating Policy for 2022-23

8.1 During the Scottish Budget on 9 December 2021 it was announced that Child Disability Payment, Adult Disability Payment, Funeral Support Payment, Job Start Payment, Young Carer Grant and Carer’s Allowance Supplement will receive an uplift to the payment rates of 3.1%. Child Winter Heating Assistance will receive an uplift of 5%. Scottish Child Payment will be doubled.

The new rates of assistance are presented in Table 3.

Note: rounding to the nearest multiple of 5p is applied

8.2 Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods will not be uprated in 2022-23. This decision has taken into consideration the significant improvements and extensions of this assistance.

8.3 Best Start Foods was increased from £4.25 to £4.50 in August 2021 under the 100 days manifesto commitment, so will not be increased for 2022-23. Best Start Grant was launched in 2018 with a more generous package of support than the equivalent Sure Start Maternity Grant in England and Wales. The increase in payment from £500 to £600, the expansion of eligibility with a £300 payment for every subsequent birth, and the introduction of the Early Learning Payment and the School Age Payment (of £250 each), has resulted in a considerably higher investment in the people of Scotland and in more families receiving support. For example, an eligible family with two children would receive Best Start Grant payments totalling £1,900 in their children’s early years. This is £1,400 more than they would receive if they lived elsewhere in the UK.

8.4 In addition, Scottish Child Payment, which started being paid to clients in February 2021, was found to be benefitting over 106,000 children as of the end of September this year. It will be rolled out to all eligible children under 16 before the end of 2022, assuming the UK Government provides the necessary data in time to support the extension. Once fully rolled out, it is projected to support over 330,000 children and young people.

8.5 Scottish Ministers will bring forward legislation to uprate the assistance for which they have executive competence, namely AA, CA, DLA, PIP, SCP, SDA, IIDB and IDB, by April 2022. A summary of the devolved Social Security assistance rates to be delivered in Scotland in 2022-2023 is available in Annex A.

8.6 The UK Government also uprates the reserved social security benefit and pension rates each year. The rates for 2022-23 can be found at: Benefit and pension rates 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)