Over 43,000 automatic payments to help families with cost of living

Best Start Grants awarded without need for a separate application

More than 43,000 payments have been paid automatically to help parents and carers with the cost of living and starting school, latest official figures show.

The introduction of automatic payments means that tens of thousands of people getting Scottish Child Payment have been awarded Best Start Grant Early Learning and School Age Payments without the need to apply separately.

For each of the two benefits, people are awarded one-off payments of £294.70 per child to help with costs like clothes, toys and school trips.

Some parents and carers don’t get Scottish Child Payment but could still qualify for the two grants and they have been urged to apply.

These include people who opted out of automatic payments and some who get housing benefit.

Background:

Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods: high level statistics to 30 September 2023

The Scottish Government committed to a record £6.3 billion for benefits expenditure in its 2024-25 budget, announced in December Scottish Budget 2024 to 2025: Deputy First Minister statement – gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

School Age Payment is a £294.70 grant per child to help with the costs of preparing for school when a child is first old enough to start primary school. Early Learning Payment is the same amount to help with the costs of pre-school. Best Start Grant – Social security – gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

People who do not get automatic awards can check eligibility and apply online at mygov.scot/benefits or by calling Social Security Scotland free on 0800 182 2222.

https://www.gov.scot/news/over-43-000-automatic-payments-to-help-families-with-cost-of-living/

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