Scottish Child Payment doubles to £20 per week

The Scottish Government’s flagship family payment has doubled to £20 per week per child.

The Scottish Child Payment, which was introduced last year to tackle the issue of child poverty, provides financial support to families on low incomes with children under the age of six.

Around 104,000 children are set to benefit from the increase, which came into force on Friday.

Parents and carers already receiving the benefit do not need to reapply and will see payments increase automatically.

The scheme will be extended at the end of 2022 to all eligible children under the age of 16 – estimated to reach more than 400,000 young people – and will further increase to £25 at that point.

Along with Best Start Grant payments and Best Start Foods, the newly-doubled Scottish Child Payment will provide families with more than £10,000 by the time their first child turns six and £9,700 for subsequent children, according to the Scottish Government.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon made a visit to Govan Help, a family charity in Glasgow, on Monday, where she reiterated Holyrood’s commitment to tackling Scotland’s child poverty issues.

Ms Sturgeon said: “We are using our social security powers to take immediate steps to put cash in the pockets of families by doubling the Scottish Child Payment to £20 per week per child – support not replicated anywhere else in the UK.

“This is a key part of our national mission to tackle child poverty. We will further increase this payment to £25 by the end of 2022 – five times the amount campaigners originally asked.

“This will give families additional financial support of £1,300 for each eligible child every year.

“We will back this with investment of around £671 million over the next two years – just part of our package of support for families.”

The First Minister added: “Our Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan will also build on our investment in employment support for parents, through new skills and training opportunities and key worker support to help reduce household costs and drive longer term change.

“We are determined to give children the best start and a bright future by putting more money into the pockets of those who need it most.”

Viv Sawers, chief officer at Govan Help, said: “This is a fantastic measure from Scottish Government in tackling child poverty in Scotland.

“The rollout and the uplift in Scottish Child Payment will have an incredible impact on the families across Scotland who need it most and we are delighted to see money going directly to families who we know are struggling to meet their basic cost of living.

“Govan has higher than average rates of Child Poverty so this will have a hugely positive impact on the quality of life for families in this local community.

“We see families struggling daily, they have told us what a difference this has made already with the cost of living increases, we look forward to supporting more families to access this as it rolls out to children up to age 16 later this year.”