Take-up rates of Scottish benefits - 2026

Further Information

Further information about these benefits and how to apply can be found on the Scottish Government’s website:

• Scottish Child Payment
• Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods
• Funeral Support Payment
• Job Start Payment
• Young Carer Grant
• Adult Disability Payment
• Child Disability Payment
• Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance

Evaluations of these benefits have been published by the Scottish Government. Social Security Scotland publish statistics about the number of applications and payments made for these benefits. Comparisons of take-up rates over time should be made using the figures in this year’s publication rather than last year’s.

The DWP publish information on the number of young children in families receiving Universal Credit on their data-sharing platform, Stat-Xplore. These statistics are available from June 2020; prior to this, specific monitoring information shared by the DWP has been used. HMRC publish similar information for Tax Credits.

The aggregated estimates provided by DWP for estimating take-up of Job Start Payment have the following caveats:

• The estimates exclude self-employed people and those employed by small businesses that are not enrolled on RTI systems.
• The estimates only count people the first time they meet the specified criteria. However, while people can become eligible more than once, a person cannot reapply for Job Start Payment within two years of receiving the benefit.

Any questions about this publication can be sent by email to the Scottish Government’s Central Enquiry Unit mailbox (ceu@gov.scot), addressed to:

Social Security Policy Analysis and Modelling Branch

Social Security Analysis, Forecasting and Evaluation Unit (SSAFE)

Communities Analysis Division

Directorate for Tackling Child Poverty and Social Justice