Fourth Rise in Uptake Since Support Increased
Scottish Child Payment was helping the families of more than 327,000 children at the end of December last year, official statistics have shown.
The £25-a-week payment helps families as part of a wider package of Scottish Government actions to tackle child poverty and support people during the cost of living crisis. The figures published today show more than 4,000 extra children were being supported since the previous quarter – the fourth consecutive rise.
Scottish Child Payment launched in February 2021 and it has since risen in value twice – firstly from £10 per week to £20 per week, then to £25 per week in November 2022.
At the time of the second rise, it was extended from being a payment for the families of children under the age of six to those of all eligible children under 16. It is the families of that older group of children who have driven the latest increase in uptake.
The total overall amount paid out since the payment was launched reach passed £573.2 million.
Official statistics on Social Security’s other family payments – Best Start Foods and the three Best Start Grants (Pregnancy & Baby Payment, Early Learning Payment and School Age Payment) are also published today. Since first launching in December 2018 until December 2023, 471,670 applications for the payments have been processed and a total of £145.4 million paid out.
Rule changes around eligibility for Best Start Foods also came into force this week, extending eligibility by making it easier to qualify. The changes will see an estimated 20,000 people able to access money to help with the cost of food shopping for the first time.
Paid to more than 46,000 people in 2022/23, Best Start Foods is money every four weeks to help pay for healthy food from pregnancy until a child turns three – delivered on a pre-paid chip and pin card which can be used in most stores and online. Until now it was paid to people who receive qualifying benefits as long as their incomes did not pass certain limits, but those thresholds have now been removed.
The Scottish Child Payment continues to be the most ambitious anti-poverty policy anywhere in the UK, making a very significant impact on the lives of those families being supported by it.
GRAEME
I am pleased that take-up continues to increase.
Taken together with the wider package of support payments for parents, the Scottish Government’s commitment to tackling the cycle of child poverty is clear.
This is despite a budget under incredible pressure because of decisions made at Westminster, but the SNP government is taking a very different approach to the UK in prioritising critical social security interventions.
Despite cuts to Scotland’s budget, the Scottish Government is prioritising support for families.
SOCIAL JUSTICE SECRETARY, SHIRLEY-ANNE SOMERVILLE
Our investment in the game-changing Scottish Child Payment and other benefits is unparalleled in the UK.
It delivers a lifeline from the Westminster austerity agenda and continued cruel policies, such as the two-child cap.
These statistics show that we are reaching more of the people who most need our support as we continue to make tackling child poverty our key mission.
It is encouraging to see that we are also continuing to do that more quickly, making progress in the time it takes from receiving applications to getting money into people’s pockets.
