Take-up rates of Scottish benefits - 2026

Analysis of Take-Up Rate Estimates

Overview

All the figures presented in this publication are estimates and there is more uncertainty for benefits with lower numbers of recipients as there is a higher degree of uncertainty within the eligibility calculations. We also make minor improvements to our methodology each year. Small changes in estimated take-up rates over time should therefore be expected.

Benefit take-up rates are likely to be influenced by:

• levels of awareness and understanding of a benefit
• psychological barriers such as stigma or mistrust
• whether application and other processes are accessible and straightforward to navigate
• whether eligibility criteria and evidence requirements are easy to understand
• whether the benefit is a regular or one-off payment
• the value of the benefit
• the characteristics of potential recipients, such as their age profile.

The estimated take-up rates for Scottish Child Payment, Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods – the ‘Five Family Payments’ – are generally higher than the other Scottish benefits.

There are a number of possible reasons for this. For example, eligible families can make a combined application for all of the five family payments resulting in a simplified process, and awards can be made automatically for Best Start Grant Early Learning Payment and School Age Payment for clients in receipt of Scottish Child Payments.

There are also more opportunities to reach and inform eligible families about the Five Family Payments through the public services they already access as part of supporting their children to grow, learn and develop. This complements the wider efforts of Social Security Scotland to raise awareness of the benefits it delivers, through a range of communications and engagement activities.

Scottish Child Payment

The estimated take-up rate of Scottish Child Payment for all children aged under 16 in 2025-26 is 96%. This is an increase of two percentage points from last year’s estimate of 94% for 2024-25. This partially reflects a sustained increase of take-up rates for children aged between 6 and 15 after the eligibility extension in November 2022 meant they became eligible for the first time, with the take-up rate for older children catching up with that for younger children.

The estimated take-up rate of Scottish Child Payment for children aged under 6 in 2025-26 is 96%, one percentage point lower than last year’s estimate of 97% for 2024-25. This indicates a stable take-up rate and that the vast majority of children aged under 6 in families eligible for Scottish Child Payment go on to receive the payment.

The estimated take-up rate of Scottish Child Payment for children aged 6 to under 16 in 2025-26 is 97%, an increase of five percentage points from last year’s estimate of 92% for 2024-25.

Across 2025-26, the number of children estimated to be eligible for Scottish Child Payment fell, particularly among older children. This coincides with the completion of the move from Tax Credits to Universal Credit and may reflect differences in eligibility between the two systems, as well as the possibility that some families previously receiving Tax Credits did not move onto Universal Credit despite being eligible. Because a greater proportion of older children previously qualified through Tax Credits, any such effects would be expected to have a larger impact on this age group.

As eligibility fell but take-up did not, this suggests that the households who stopped receiving a qualifying benefit were less likely to have been receiving Scottish Child Payment.

This publication includes estimated take-up rates for Scottish Child Payment at the local authority level for the third time. These estimates range from 93% to 98%.

Best Start Grant

The estimated take-up rate for Best Start Grant Pregnancy and Baby Payment in 2024-25, the latest year with available data, is 95%. This is an increase on last year’s estimate of 91% for 2023-24. Both the number of payments and the estimated number of children eligible declined between 2023-24 and 2024-25. As eligibility declined faster than payments, this increased the estimated take-up rate.

The estimate for 2024-25 calculates take-up among children who were born in 2024-25. As Pregnancy and Baby Payment can be received between 24 weeks of pregnancy to 6 months after birth, a child born in March 2025 could be eligible for Pregnancy and Baby Payment until September 2025, meaning 2024-25 is the latest full year an estimate can be produced for. Next year’s publication will cover 2025-26.

The estimated take-up rate for Best Start Grant Early Learning Payment in 2023-24, the latest year with available data, is 97%, an increase of ten percentage points from the estimate of 87% for 2022-23. Automation of payments to clients already receiving Scottish Child Payment began in November 2022, which may have contributed to this significant increase in the take-up rate. In addition, the number of people eligible via Tax Credits fell by more than the corresponding increase in the number in receipt of Universal Credit, reducing overall eligibility and also contributing to a higher take-up with the number of recipients only increasing slightly.

The estimate for 2023-24 calculates take-up among children who turned 2 in 2023-24. Due to the 18 month application window for Early Learning Payment, a child turning 2 in March 2024 could receive Early Learning Payment until September 2025, meaning 2023-24 is the latest full year an estimate can be produced for. Next year’s publication will cover 2024-25.

The estimated take-up rate for Best Start Grant School Age Payment in 2025-26 is 96%, one percentage point below the estimate of 97% for 2024-25. The number of payments declined at a greater rate than the eligible population, leading to a small fall in estimated take-up. Auto-awarded payments for clients in receipt of Scottish Child Payment continues to lead to a stable take-up rate for School Age Payment, matching the overall Scottish Child Payment take-up rate.

Best Start Grant take-up estimates in this year's publication incorporate a minor methodology improvement to better model households who move in and out of receipt of qualifying benefits during the application window. This has increased estimates slightly compared with the methodology used in previous publications.

The adjustment does not change the overall findings for Pregnancy and Baby Payment or Early Learning Payment, both of which would still show increases in take-up under the previous methodology. However, it has a larger impact on School Age Payment. Without this adjustment, we would have reported a larger decrease in take-up, reflecting a change in the underlying data.

Best Start Foods

The estimated take-up rate for Best Start Foods for 2025-26 is 85%. This is an increase from the previous year’s estimate of 81% for 2024-25. This comes after the removal of the income threshold criteria in February 2024, which led to an increase in payments over the course of 2024-25 and which stabilised by 2025-26, likely contributing to a higher take-up rate in the latter year. There has also been a fall in overall eligibility in 2025-26 which also contributes to an increased rate.

Best Start Foods continues to have a lower overall take-up rate than Scottish Child Payment. This reflects both wider eligibility criteria for Best Start Foods, and that take-up for Scottish Child Payment is slightly lower among the younger age groups eligible for Best Start Foods.

The number of payments to pregnant mothers remains low relative to payments for children. This could reflect that the design of reserved qualifying benefits (in particular, Universal Credit), which means that some mothers will only become eligible for a qualifying benefit for Best Start Foods after birth. This is because the income threshold below which a household can receive Universal Credit increases with their number of children. Data on the caseloads for qualifying benefits during pregnancy is not available, meaning it is not currently possible to estimate a separate take-up rate for pregnant mothers.

This publication includes estimated take-up rates for Best Start Foods at the local authority level for the second time. These estimates range from 76% to 88%.

Other payments

The take-up estimates presented in this section are subject to a higher degree of uncertainty than those for Scottish Child Payment, Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods. This reflects both the smaller size of the eligible populations and the additional challenges involved in identifying who is eligible for these benefits.

Young Carer Grant

Estimates of the eligible population for Young Carer Grant are based on survey data used to analyse caring prevalence. Combined with the small size of the eligible population, this means some year-on-year fluctuation in estimated take-up rates should be expected.

The estimated take-up rate for Young Carer Grant in 2025-26 is 77%, a small decrease from last year’s estimate of 80% for 2024-25.

Successful applications to Young Carer Grant increased by around 17% between 2024-25 and 2025-26; however, the estimated number of people eligible increased by around 37% with eligibility extended to 19 year-olds.

Job Start Payment

Two factors affect estimates of take-up for Job Start Payment. First, the relatively small number of benefit recipients means that even minor changes in the number of applications can have a disproportionately large impact on the estimated take-up rate. Second, the eligible population consists of individuals who have been in receipt of Universal Credit for six months and have not received Job Start Payment within the previous two years. Uncertainty in estimating this eligible population affects the denominator used in the calculation and, consequently, the resulting take-up rate.

The estimated take-up rate for Job Start Payment in 2025-26 is 16%, a slight decrease on last year’s estimate of 19% for 2024-25. Job Start Payment continues to have the lowest take-up rate of any Scottish benefit.

According to published statistics, there were 575 authorised applications for Job Start Payment in 2025-26 from 1,560 total applications. This indicates that many people who apply for Job Start Payment do not meet the eligibility criteria. The low estimated take-up rate also suggests that a substantial proportion of the eligible population is not receiving the payment.

Funeral Support Payment

Estimates of eligibility for Funeral Support Payment require identifying the person responsible for the funeral and whether they would have been eligible for the benefit. Because the eligible population is estimated from a relatively small number of cases, uncertainty in the eligibility estimate can contribute to variation in estimated take-up rates from year to year.

Another potential reason why take-up of Funeral Support Payment is lower than other benefits is that support from other sources can affect entitlement and award amounts. For example, money left in the deceased person's estate, or prior funeral arrangements, may reduce the amount payable through Funeral Support Payment or mean the individual is not eligible for support.

There has been a small methodological change and some improvement in the data collection which had a moderate downward effect on the number of people estimated to be eligible for Funeral Support Payment.

The estimated take-up rate for Funeral Support Payment in 2025-26 is 60%, a decrease from last year's estimate of 61% for 2024-25.