Take-up rates of Scottish benefits: October 2022

Estimates of Take-Up

Our estimates of take-up for the most recent financial year possible for each benefit are outlined below, with estimates for previous years included in Table 1 and Table 2.

Comparisons should not be made between the latest estimates of take-up published here and our estimates published in the second Benefit Take-Up Strategy last year. The main reasons for this are differences in the time period covered and changes in the methodology for estimating eligibility. This is discussed further in the Commentary section. However, Table 1 and Table 2 above can be used to understand how take-up rates have changed over time.

Child Winter Heating Assistance is paid automatically to children and young people who receive Child Disability Payment, Adult Disability Payment, Disability Living Allowance or Personal Independence Payment at a certain rate. Similarly, Carer's Allowance Supplement is paid automatically to people who receive Carer's Allowance.

Scottish Child Payment was first paid to clients in February 2021 so 2021-22 is the first full financial year that take-up can be estimated for.

The take-up rate for Best Start Grant: Early Learning Payment relates to children who turned two years old in 2019-20. Some people whose child turned two years old in 2020-21 could still apply for the benefit after our data cut-off period, due to the relatively long application window (18 months). Similarly, some people could still apply for Best Start Grant: Pregnancy and Baby Payment in 2021-22 after our data cut-off period. Our estimates only consider people whose opportunity to apply for a benefit has closed to avoid under-estimating the take-up rate. The estimate for Job Start Payment in 2020-21 covers September 2020 onwards as the benefit was launched in mid-August of that year.