NEW SCOTTISH CHILD PAYMENT WELCOMED BY GILRUTH

Published date : 20 Jan 2020

Mid Fife and Glenrothes MSP, Jenny Gilruth, has welcomed the announcement of the new Scottish Child Payment from the Scottish Government.

An estimated 170,000 children will be eligible for the new £10 weekly Scottish Child Payment when applications open later this year, with 32,100 children in 19,000 families across Fife are expected to benefit from the Scottish Government’s ground-breaking anti-poverty payment.

In an additional move from the Scottish Government to assist families, Best Start Grant payments, Best Start Foods and the new Scottish Child Payment will be available through a single application – making it more straightforward for people to access the money they are entitled to.

Commenting after the announcement from the Scottish Government, Ms Gilruth said:

“I am delighted by the announcement of The Scottish Child Payment being made available for families across Scotland.

“When fully rolled out, the Scottish Child Payment will benefit over a third of all children – giving families £10 per week for every eligible child under 16 years old.

“Tory cuts are driving too many families in Fife into poverty – but the SNP are determined, and committed, to using every power at our disposal to help families make ends meet.”

The Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People, Shirley-Anne Somerville MSP, said:

“The Scottish Child Payment has rightly been described as game-changing in terms of the potential to reduce child poverty. That is why we are doing everything we can to introduce this as early as possible, whilst ensuring we do so in a way that is safe and secure and protects implementation plans for the other social security benefits.

“When we launched the Best Start Grant payments we experienced significant demand with 14,000 applications in the week that we opened the School Age Payment. With 170,000 children from approximately 140,000 households expected to qualify for Scottish Child Payment, eligibility is on an unprecedented scale, and as this is a recurring payment, it also brings additional complexity.

“We are gearing up to process applications carefully, accurately and efficiently. We are building capacity across our processes, systems, premises and people. And with the roll-out plan, we are asking families to help us by getting their applications in early so that we can process and start making payments as quickly as possible once this new benefit has been introduced.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors –

More information on the Scottish Child Payment can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/policies/social-security/scottish-child-payment/

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