Scottish Child Payment

Scottish Child Payment is a weekly payment of £28.20 for each child under 16, paid to low-income families living in Scotland¹. It is paid by Social Security Scotland, the executive agency of the Scottish Government, and to qualify you or your partner must receive one of a short list of benefits, such as Universal Credit, Income Support or Pension Credit¹. There is no limit on the number of children in a family who can get it, so a family with three eligible children receives three payments¹.

The payment is not taxable and does not reduce any other UK or Scottish Government benefits you receive². It is paid every four weeks, which works out at £112.80 per child for each four-week payment¹. As of 30 June 2026, 320,390 children were actively benefitting from the payment, and over £1.7 billion has been issued since it launched³.

The payment opened for applications in November 2020 and was first paid from 15 February 2021, initially only for families with children under six². It was extended to all children aged under 16 on 14 November 2022⁴.

Scottish Child Payment: £28.20 a week for each child under 16

Scottish Child Payment is a payment to help low-income families with children under 16¹. It is worth £28.20 per week for each child in an eligible family, up until their 16th birthday⁵. The rate is reviewed on a yearly basis, so it could increase¹.

The payment started at £10 a week per child when it was introduced, with no limit to the number of eligible children⁴. It has risen since, and the current rate of £28.20 applies from April 2026 to April 2027⁶. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which reviewed the payment's design, recommended a "double-lock" to protect its value each year, increasing it by the higher of earnings growth or the inflation rate faced by low-income families⁷.

The scale of the payment is substantial. As of 30 June 2026, 188,255 clients were actively in receipt, and 320,390 children aged 0 to 15 years were benefitting³. Over 10.5 million payments have been issued to 251,510 individual clients since launch, and £118.3 million was paid in the April to June 2026 quarter alone³. The highest number of children benefitting as of June 2026 was in Glasgow City at 53,020 (17%), followed by North Lanarkshire at 24,550 (8%) and Fife at 23,940 (7%)³.

There is no restriction on what the money is spent on. It can be used for anything that incurs a cost while raising a child, for example childcare, clothes, nappies or family days out⁸.

Who can get it: qualifying benefits and the 14-day rule

To get Scottish Child Payment you must live in Scotland, and you or your partner must be responsible for a child under 16¹. You must also receive one of the following qualifying benefits¹:

• Universal Credit
• Income Support
• Pension Credit
• Job Seeker's Allowance (income based)
• Employment Support Allowance (income related)

Child Benefit on its own is not an accepted benefit for Scottish Child Payment⁹. The person responsible for the child, or their partner, can apply, and this includes kinship carers¹. A kinship carer can apply if they can show they look after the child, with a letter from the local authority or a copy of a legal order such as a Kinship Care Order, a Residence Order or a Guardianship Order¹⁰.

There is a timing rule that catches some families out. The qualifying benefit must be awarded within 14 days of the Scottish Child Payment application being made¹. If a decision on your qualifying benefit is not made within 14 days, Social Security Scotland will decide you are not entitled to Scottish Child Payment, and you would need to reapply once the qualifying benefit is in place¹¹. You can apply before the Department for Work and Pensions has approved your qualifying benefit, but Social Security Scotland must wait until that benefit is awarded before processing the application¹.

Two special rules extend eligibility further:

• Nil awards from sanctions. If your Universal Credit is reduced to £0 by a sanction or a deduction, you can still get Scottish Child Payment¹¹. The regulations were changed specifically so that people with a nil award of a qualifying benefit as a result of sanctions or deductions remain eligible⁴. You may need evidence, such as a Universal Credit statement or a DWP benefit award letter showing the sanction or deduction⁹. If a sanction or deduction happens while you are already getting the payment, you must tell Social Security Scotland, as you might still meet the conditions⁹.
• Run-on after a qualifying benefit stops. The qualifying benefits allow a run-on of up to 12 weeks of payment in the same circumstances, which protects families during short gaps¹².

You cannot get Scottish Child Payment for a child you are fostering, and the same applies to Child Benefit¹³. Foster carers normally receive support for the child through their fostering service instead.

How payments work: every four weeks, no part payments

Scottish Child Payment is paid every four weeks, directly into your bank account¹⁰. Because the weekly rate is £28.20, each four-week payment is £112.80 for each eligible child¹.

There are no part payments. As long as you are eligible for one day in a week, you receive a full payment for that week¹¹. This matters at the start and end of an award: if your qualifying benefit starts mid-week, or your child's 16th birthday falls part-way through a payment period, the week still counts in full.

Your first payment may be different from the payments that follow it, and Social Security Scotland will tell you when to expect it⁸. This can happen because the first payment covers the period from your application date, which may not line up exactly with the four-week cycle that follows.

The four-weekly frequency was a design choice that not everyone welcomed. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation recommended the payment be made fortnightly rather than four-weekly, with a choice of payment frequency for families developed over time⁷. As it stands, four-weekly is the only frequency offered.

How to apply for Scottish Child Payment

Applications can be made in four ways¹:

1. Online, through mygov.scot⁴
2. By phone
3. By paper application form
4. Through local delivery, where someone from Social Security Scotland can help you in person

Around 91% of applications received by 30 June 2026 were made online, and 7% were made through a telephone application³.

There are some limits on applying online. You cannot apply online if you do not have a bank account and need to be paid another way, or if you are applying for someone else, for example as an appointee or a legal acting body¹. The online form must also be completed all at once, as there is no save and resume function¹. If you already get Scottish Child Payment for children under 6, you can add other children to your existing claim online or by calling 0800 182 2222¹⁰.

You can apply before your qualifying benefit has been approved, but as explained above, the qualifying benefit must be awarded within 14 days of the application for it to proceed¹. If you include your mobile number, you will receive a text every two weeks updating you on the progress of your application until you receive your decision letter¹⁰.

How long a decision takes and when an award starts

A decision about your application can take up to 2 months¹¹. In practice, official statistics show the median processing time was 32 working days between April and June 2026, compared with 22 working days in the 2025/2026 financial year as a whole³.

Social Security Scotland aims to make a decision after getting your completed application and any further information it needs¹. The decision letter is called a notice of determination, and the law says it must be clear and accessible and give guidance and explanations about the decision that has been made¹.

Scottish Child Payment cannot usually be backdated. The date your application is received by Social Security Scotland is normally the date your award starts¹¹. The one exception noted in the guidance is where the reason you did not apply sooner was related to coronavirus¹¹. This makes the timing of an application important: applying while a qualifying benefit decision is still pending carries the 14-day risk described above, but waiting until everything is confirmed means the award starts from the later date.

The volume of applications gives a sense of how the system is performing. 9,090 applications were received between April and June 2026, and 460,660 have been received since launch³. Of the 8,725 applications processed in that quarter, 71% were authorised, 26% were denied and 3% were withdrawn³. Authorisation rates varied by area, from 62% in East Ayrshire and the Orkney Islands to 79% in the Shetland Islands³.

Changes you must report, and when payments stop

A change in circumstances must be reported to Social Security Scotland promptly⁸. Changes that must be reported include⁸:

• Stopping living in Scotland
• Your benefits stopping
• Name changes
• Bank or contact details changing
• Moving house
• Starting to look after another child

Social Security Scotland's own guidance makes the same point: people need to let the agency know if their circumstances change at any point, including changes to what benefits someone gets or where they live¹⁴. If you are not sure whether a change needs to be reported, you can call and ask¹. Social Security Scotland will contact you to let you know if the changes you reported may affect your payments and if more information is needed to make a decision¹.

The most common reason payments stop is a child turning 16. Social Security Scotland will send a letter 2 months before your child's 16th birthday telling you that the payment will stop soon¹¹. The payment stops after the 16th birthday, but a payment is still made for the week the child turns 16⁸.

Payments can also be suspended in specific circumstances. The legislation provides that the Scottish Ministers may suspend payment to protect an individual from the risk of financial abuse, or where the person receiving the payment on the individual's behalf cannot continue. The individual may require a review, which must be completed within 31 days¹⁵.

If a child to whom a claim relates dies, the rules provide for a payment equivalent to the value of the Scottish Child Payments made in the 12 weeks prior to the child's death¹². In practice this means you get the amount you received in the 12 weeks before the child died, multiplied by 2¹¹. After a death, Social Security Scotland should be contacted to cancel the person's benefits and entitlements from the Scottish Government, including Scottish Child Payment¹⁶.

Getting a decision looked at again: redetermination and appeal

A decision on a claim that a person disagrees with can first be looked at again by Social Security Scotland. This is called a redetermination⁶. If the disagreement continues after the redetermination, an appeal can be made to the First-tier Tribunal⁶. An appeal form and instructions on how to appeal come with the redetermination decision⁶.

The time limit for asking for a redetermination is normally 31 days from the date of the decision you are challenging¹⁷. You have 31 days from the day you got the decision letter to ask for a redetermination, and this period can be extended to up to 12 months if you have a good reason¹¹. The time limit for an appeal is also normally 31 days, and it too can be extended to one year, but only if you have good reason for a late request¹⁷. If you miss the deadline, you can still make a late request, but you will need to explain why it is late⁶.

The process is used relatively rarely. By 30 June 2026, 8,150 redetermination requests had been received since launch, and 380 appeals in total³. Of the 330 redeterminations completed in the 2026/2027 financial year to date, 170 were allowed, 120 were disallowed, 40 resulted in no decision being made, and none were withdrawn³. The median response time for redetermination requests in that period was 14 working days³. Of the 265 appeals completed by 30 June 2026, 95 (35%) were upheld in clients' favour and 175 (65%) were not³.

Free help is available with challenging a decision. The general guide to challenging a decision explains the redetermination process across benefits, and appealing to a tribunal covers the tribunal stage. If you miss the usual deadline, appealing after the deadline explains when a late request can be accepted.

Overpayments and paying money back

If you are paid a Scottish Child Payment by mistake, or you are paid too much, you might have to pay the money back to Social Security Scotland¹¹. This is why reporting changes promptly matters: an unreported change that continues payments you are no longer entitled to can build up a debt.

The rules include some protections for families in difficult situations. Where a change of circumstances ends an award, reinstatement is allowed within 12 weeks of the effective change, rather than within 12 weeks of the original determination¹². This gives a family whose circumstances change again (for example, a qualifying benefit being reinstated) a window to get the payment back without a fresh claim.

If you are already getting Scottish Child Payment for one child and you become responsible for another child, let Social Security Scotland know. Your existing award should be reviewed and an extra payment added, and you may be asked to complete a change of circumstances form¹⁸. Doing this promptly avoids both a gap in payment for the new child and the risk of an overpayment later being recovered.

If you disagree that an overpayment exists, or with the amount, the redetermination and appeal route described above applies to that decision too⁶.

Other family support alongside Scottish Child Payment

Scottish Child Payment is one of the 5 family payments you may be able to get from Social Security Scotland¹⁹. The others include Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods, and together they are designed to support families at different stages of a child's life¹⁹.

Two of the Best Start Grant payments are now automatic. If you get Scottish Child Payment and your child meets the age conditions, Social Security Scotland automatically pays the Best Start Grant Early Learning Payment and School Age Payment without the need to apply²⁰. Auto-awards for these payments were introduced in November 2022 for people already receiving Scottish Child Payment².

The payment is intended to work as a gateway to other support. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation recommended it act as a "gateway" to other forms of support for low-income families⁷. Families getting Scottish Child Payment may also qualify for help such as Child Benefit, Child Disability Payment, the Scottish Welfare Fund, Council Tax Reduction and help with rent. The guide to passported help explains what a qualifying award can unlock, and checking what you are entitled to lists free calculators and advisers.

Because Scottish Child Payment does not affect other benefits, it sits on top of this wider support rather than replacing any of it².

Scottish Child Payment across the UK

Scottish Child Payment exists only in Scotland: to get it, the client must live in Scotland¹. It is part of the Scottish Government's social security powers, administered by Social Security Scotland through an application-based process⁴. Families in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have no equivalent weekly payment, though UK-wide support such as Child Benefit and the child elements of Universal Credit continues to apply.

The Scottish Government's evaluation of the payment found that it does not negatively affect labour market participation at scale in the economy, addressing a concern sometimes raised about income top-ups². The evaluation also found the payment has an impact on education for around 1 in 10 recipients or their partners².

If your family moves between Scotland and the rest of the UK, your Scottish Child Payment will stop once you are no longer living in Scotland, which is one of the changes you must report⁸. The guide to disability and carer payments when moving between Scotland and the rest of the UK explains how the Scottish and UK systems connect, and the wider guide to money in Scotland sets out how the rules differ across the nations.

Contacting Social Security Scotland and getting help

You can call Social Security Scotland free on 0800 182 2222²¹. Calls to this number are free²². Other ways to get in touch¹⁴:

• Text Relay: 18001 followed by 0300 244 4000, for people who are hard of hearing
• Webchat: chat.socialsecurity.gov.scot
• British Sign Language: the Contact Scotland video relay service

The same freephone number can be used to apply, to report a change of circumstances, to add a child to an existing claim, or to ask any question about the payment¹⁰. If you are not sure whether you need to tell Social Security Scotland about a change, or you need help completing a change of circumstances form, call and ask¹.

After a bereavement, Social Security Scotland should be contacted to cancel the person's benefits and entitlements from the Scottish Government, including Scottish Child Payment; they can also check whether you are eligible for help with funeral costs¹⁶. The guide to help with funeral costs across the UK covers that support in detail.