Winter Heating Assistance for Children and Young People (Scotland) Amendment Regulations: scrutiny report on the regulations

3. SCoSS's report on the Winter Heating Assistance for Children and Young People draft regulations

SCoSS published its pre-legislative scrutiny report on the WHACYP Regulations in July 2020^[4]. We commended the introduction of CWHA as a step towards the realisation of disabled children's right to the highest attainable standard of health, their right to an adequate standard of living and their right to social security, as well as having potential to contribute towards addressing poverty and material deprivation. It is reasonable to expect that these effects will now extend to young people in receipt of PIP at the required rate.

Our report on the WHACYP Regulations noted that young people who transfer to PIP would be excluded from entitlement to CWHA. While SCoSS did not specifically recommend extending eligibility, we highlighted that this is a potential source of confusion and something that could complicate decisions on whether to move to PIP or remain on DLA at 16. There might be a risk that some young people could elect to remain on DLA in order to continue to receive their £200 CWHA award, when they might stand to gain more than £200 by moving to PIP. The amendments will eliminate these problems.