Social Security Assistance in Scotland: up-rating for inflation in 2026 - 2027

4. Social Security Payments in 2025-26

4.1 With the introduction of each new social security payment in Scotland, the Scottish Government carries out impact assessments during the policy making process (links provided below). In 2025-26, Social Security Scotland is responsible for the following payments:

4.2 Carer’s Allowance Supplement (CAS) : providing extra support to people who receive Carer’s Allowance in Scotland. Paid every six months, it was initially set at a level that would raise Carer’s Allowance to match the rate of Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) for those aged 25 and over. This payment has been up-rated annually since 2018-19 in line with section 81 of the 2018 Act, which calculates the supplement as the difference between Carer’s Allowance and JSA, had it been up-rated in line with inflation.

4.3 As a result of this up-rating and since the UK Government has not routinely up-rated JSA in line with inflation, Carer’s Allowance and Carer’s Allowance Supplement combined now exceed the equivalent weekly rate of Jobseeker’s Allowance. The rate of Carer’s Allowance Supplement in 2025-26 is £293.50 in each bi-annual payment.

4.4 Young Carer Grant (YCG)^[11]: provides eligible young carers aged 16, 17, 18 and 19 with a payment of £390.25, which can be applied for each year.

4.5 Carer Support^[12]: provides financial assistance to those people supplying regular and substantial care to someone in receipt of a qualifying disability benefit. Carer Support is replacing Carer Support Payment from March 2026 and is one benefit with 3 separate components:

• Carer Support Payment (CSP): has replaced Carer’s Allowance for people in Scotland and the current rate for 2025-26 is £83.30.
• Carer Additional Person Payment (CAPP)^[13]: is a new payment available from March 2026 for carers who care for more than one person and in recognition that these carers face greater impacts on their health, wellbeing and ability to work and access other opportunities. The rate for 2025-26 is £10.00.
• Scottish Carer Supplement (SCS): will replace Carer’s Allowance Supplement for the majority of people from March 2026 and ensures carers regularly receive this additional support alongside CSP. The weekly rate of this component for 2025-26 is £11.29.

4.6 To be eligible to receive Carer Support, earnings must be a specific amount or less a week after tax, National Insurance and expenses. The earnings limit for 2025-26 is £196.00.

4.7 Child Disability Payment (CDP)^[14]: provides support for the extra costs that a child or young person with disabilities may have. This payment replaced Disability Living Allowance for children (DLAC) in Scotland and is available to children and young people from the age of 3 months to 18 years old, who have care and/or mobility needs as a result of a disability.

4.8 CDP consists of a care and a mobility component, and an eligible child may qualify for either of these or both, depending on the nature of their disability. The care component has three different payment rates: lowest (£29.20), middle (£73.90) and highest (£110.40). The mobility component comprises two rates: lower (£29.20 if the child is 5 or over) and higher (£77.05 for children aged 3 or over). Both care and mobility components are paid four-weekly in arrears, except for terminally ill children, whom Social Security Scotland pay weekly.

4.9 Adult Disability Payment (ADP)^[15]: provides financial assistance to help meet the additional costs of living with a disability or health condition. This payment replaces Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in Scotland for individuals aged between 16 and state pension age (subject to some exceptions) who are making an application for disability assistance.

4.10 It consists of two components, the daily living component and the mobility component. The first provides two levels of assistance for individuals who face increased barriers to carrying out daily living activities as a result of physical or mental health condition(s) and/or disability with the standard rate (£73.90) and the enhanced rate (£110.40). The mobility component provides two levels of assistance for individuals who face increased barriers to carrying out mobility activities as a result of physical or mental health condition(s) and/or disability: the standard rate (£29.20) and the enhanced rate (£77.05).

4.11 A transitional rate for ADP was introduced for adults in Scotland who currently receive Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and were under 65 when PIP was introduced on 8 April 2013. ADP does not have an equivalent of the lowest rate of the care component in DLA so in this situation, people are transferred to a special ‘transitional rate’ of the daily living component paid at the lowest rate of the care component, currently £29.20. This transitional rate will be paid until the case is reviewed against the eligibility rules for ADP.

4.12 Pension Age Disability Payment (PADP)^[16]: provides support to older people who have a disability or long term health condition that means they need assistance with looking after themselves, or supervision to keep them safe. PADP consists of two rates of assistance, the higher rate (£110.40) and the lower rate (£73.90).

4.13 Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance (SADLA)^[17]: provides financial assistance to help meet the additional costs of living with a disability or health condition. This form of assistance replaces Disability Living Allowance in Scotland for adults who are in receipt of Disability Living Allowance as administered by the Department for Work and Pensions on behalf of Scottish Ministers in Scotland. It is a closed benefit, meaning that it is not open to new applications. It is intended only for those whose awards are transferred from Disability Living Allowance.

4.14 SADLA consists of a care and mobility component. The care component provides three rates of assistance: lowest (£29.20), middle (£73.90) and highest (£110.40). The mobility component comprises of two rates: lower (£29.20) and higher (£77.05).

4.15 Short-term assistance: is available where Social Security Scotland has made a decision to reduce or stop an ongoing award and that decision is subject to a request for a re-determination or an appeal. The intention is to ensure that an individual is not discouraged from challenging a decision or from accessing administrative justice by having to manage, for a period of time, with a reduced income. At this time, this assistance is available for ADP, PADP, CDP and SADLA. The value of the short-term assistance would always reflect any up-rating during the period that it is in payment, ensuring that while a re-determination or appeal remains live, the client is not disadvantaged compared to an individual who remains entitled to the principal form of assistance.

4.16 Scottish Child Payment (SCP)^[18]: is paid as a top up of certain qualifying reserved benefits (notably Universal Credit) using powers available under the 2018 Act. It is intended to help towards the costs of supporting a family and forms part of the wider Scottish Government strategy to combat child poverty. Available to children under 16, it is paid every four weeks in arrears to clients with the current weekly rate set at £27.15.

4.17 Funeral Support Payment (FSP)^[19]: is a one-off payment designed to help meet the costs of a funeral with the current flat rate at £1,279.15 for funeral costs but with provision for further associated costs also available.

4.18 Best Start Grant (BSG)^[20]: provides support during three key transition points in a child’s early years. The Pregnancy and Baby Payment provides £767.50 for a first child and £383.75 for second and subsequent children (with some exceptions for the higher payment to be made in certain circumstances for subsequent children). Both the Early Learning Payment and the School Age Payment provides £319.80 per child, with the former designed to support child development and the latter to help with the costs of preparing for school. The UK Government makes no equivalent provision to either the Early Learning or School Age Payments.

4.19 Best Start Foods (BSF)^[21]: is a payment available to low-income pregnant women, their partners and children aged up to three years old. It is paid as a credit onto a payment card that can be used to buy healthy foods such as milk, fruit and vegetables. The rates were increased in April 2025 to £5.40 per week for each child 1 year or older, and £10.80 per week for every child under 1 year old. As this payment is not delivered under the 2018 Act, there is no statutory requirement to up-rate or to provide inflation-adjusted figures in this report, but they are included for completeness.

4.20 Job Start Payment (JSP)^[22]: provides a one-off payment to eligible young people to help them with costs they may incur when starting a new job. A payment of £319.80 or £511.65 (higher award if responsible for a child) is available to young people who reside in Scotland aged 16 to 24 and aged up to 25 for care leavers. Job Start Payment is not delivered under the 2018 Act and so there is no statutory requirement to up-rate or to provide inflation-adjusted figures on this payment in the report but these have been included for completeness.

4.21 Child Winter Heating Payment (CWHP)^[23]: provides an annual payment of £255.80 to children and young people with disabilities in receipt of the highest rate of the care component of Disability Living Allowance for children, Child Disability Payment or the enhanced rate of the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment or Adult Disability Payment, to support households with the additional costs associated with winter fuel bills.

4.22 Winter Heating Payment (WHP)^[24]: is an annual payment of £59.75 for households in receipt of certain low-income benefits who may have extra heating needs over winter.

4.23 Pension Age Winter Heating Payment (PAWHP)^[25]: is a payment designed to mitigate some of the impact of additional domestic heating costs for those of state pension age and with an individual income below £35,000 per year. In 2025-26, it is a single annual payment of £101.07, £152.55, £203.40 or £305.10 for individuals dependent on their circumstances.

Devolved Assistance that continues to be delivered by the DWP

4.24 Scottish Ministers have legal, policy and funding responsibility for other forms of assistance that are delivered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) through agency arrangements. These agency arrangements are required until all clients in Scotland are transferred from carer and disability benefits provided by the DWP to assistance provided by Scottish Ministers.

4.25 Carer’s Allowance, Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment, Severe Disablement Allowance and the Industrial Injuries Scheme (comprising of the Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefits and the Industrial Death Benefit) are administered by the DWP on behalf of Scottish Ministers. Although there is not a requirement under the 2018 Act to include these forms of assistance in this report, they have been included to help provide a more complete view of the steps taken by the Scottish Government to investigate the impact of inflation for all devolved payments.

4.26 Scottish Ministers are committed to annually up-rate those devolved forms of assistance at the same rate as the DWP, which for 2026-27 is generally using the 12 months to September 2025 rate of CPI (3.8%), then rounding rates to the nearest 5p. Exceptions include the Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit where the 100% degree of disablement entitlement is rounded to the nearest 10p and the lower rates rounded to the nearest 1p while the Industrial Death Benefit (IDB) is normally up-rated through the triple lock guarantee, which ensures that pensions increase by the greatest of average earnings, prices as measured by CPI, or 2.5%.

4.27 IDB is part of the Industrial Injuries Scheme and is paid to the widow, widower or dependents of someone who has died as a result of an industrial injury or disease. In 2026-27, the UK Government has determined that IDB will increase by 4.8% in line with the growth in Average Weekly Earnings in the year to May-July 2025.

4.28 The higher rate widow’s pension of £176.45 will increase to £184.90, the lower rate widow’s pension of £52.94 to £55.47. The widower’s pension of £176.45 will increase to £184.90. This is a closed benefit and was abolished for all new claims in 2012 and is payable only if the person died before 1988.

4.29 The earnings limit for Carer’s Allowance will also be increased to £204 per week in line with 16 hours work at the rate of the National Living Wage.

4.30 Although arrangements with the DWP to administer some of these benefits are due to come to an end in March 2026, Scottish Ministers remain responsible for bringing forward legislation through powers under UK legislation to up-rate these payments in April 2026.