Best Start Foods amendment regulations come into force in Scotland

The Welfare Foods (Best Start Foods) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2023 came into force on 26 February 2024, amending the Welfare Foods (Best Start Foods) (Scotland) Regulations 2019¹. The instrument was made on 5 December 2023 and laid before the Scottish Parliament on 7 December 2023¹. It sets the basic weekly rate of the benefit at £4.95 and changes who can claim¹.

Under the amended rules, the benefit to which an entitled individual is entitled is "a payment to the value of £4.95 ('the basic rate') for each week that individual is so entitled"¹. The regulations also replace references to the previous £9.90 figure with "double the basic rate", and references to £4.95 with "the basic rate"¹.

The amendment extends entitlement beyond pregnant women and children. New regulation 7A covers partners of pregnant women, including an individual who is the partner of a pregnant woman, is 18 or over, is ordinarily resident in Scotland and is receiving benefit for the pregnant woman's use¹. New regulation 7B covers other entitled individuals in respect of a pregnant woman, namely the individual a pregnant woman is a dependant of, or that individual's partner, where they are receiving benefit for the pregnant woman's use¹. Children under three are covered by the substituted regulation 8, where the individual responsible for the child, or their partner, is in receipt of a listed kind of assistance and is ordinarily resident in Scotland¹.

The kinds of assistance listed in regulation 10 are now child tax credit, working tax credit, housing benefit, income-based jobseeker's allowance, income-related employment and support allowance, income support, state pension credit, and universal credit in the specified period¹. The amendment removes the income thresholds that applied to certain forms of assistance and adds working tax credit as a form of assistance¹.

The regulations also provide that a person entitled to benefit by virtue of payment of certain kinds of assistance does not cease to be entitled until eight weeks after the last day of entitlement to that assistance¹. An individual is not regarded as having been awarded assistance for a day or period if the award was made in error or the sum awarded is £0¹. Where applications relate to the same pregnancy, the Scottish Ministers must approve the application in respect of the pregnant woman in priority to applications from partners or other individuals, and cease payment to those others¹.

Why it matters for households

The change affects people in Scotland who are pregnant, their partners and dependants, and households with children under three, where someone is in receipt of one of the listed benefits and is ordinarily resident in Scotland¹. The weekly value of the payment is set at £4.95, and the removal of income thresholds for certain forms of assistance and the addition of working tax credit widen the group who can qualify¹. A child described in regulation 8 is entitled to the full amount of payment for the week in which they reach the age of three¹. Where a child is under four months old and the responsible individual, their partner, the person they were dependent on, or that person's partner was previously entitled in respect of the pregnancy, the child is entitled to benefit payable from the date of their birth, provided the Scottish Ministers are notified of the date of birth¹. Entitlement can continue for eight weeks after the last day of entitlement to the qualifying assistance¹. The regulations also set out that where a child's responsible individual or their partner turns 18 or ceases to be a dependant, the child remains entitled until the later of the day the child turns one, the first anniversary of their estimated date of delivery, or the day the individual turns 18 or ceases to be a dependant¹.

What happens next

The regulations came into force on 26 February 2024, described in the instrument as "the appointed day"¹. No further commencement dates are set out in the instrument¹.