Financial support and benefits for families

The Best Start Grant is a series of cash payments to help cover the costs of some of the things you might need as you bring up a wee one. There are three payments that you can apply for depending on how old your child is: the Pregnancy and Baby payment, the Early Learning payment, and the School Age payment. 

Best Start Foods is a pre-paid card you can use to buy healthy food for you and your child. You can use it while you’re pregnant and for children under 3.

Visit mygov.scot to find out more about these payments.

The Scottish Child Payment is a new benefit that pays £25 a week to families who live in Scotland and get certain benefits. It’s available for families with children under the age of 16 and there's no limit on the number of children that families can claim for.

To find out more and apply, visit the mygov.scot website.

The Scottish Child Payment was extended to include children and young people under 16 from 14 November 2022. The payment also increased from £20 to £25 per week on this date.

Children currently in receipt of Scottish Child Payment will have it automatically increased to £25 per week, so you don't have to do anything. And children under 16 who are now eligible will receive it at the new £25 rate, with all payments backdated to the date their application is received. 

To find out more visit the Social Security Scotland website.

The Scottish Child Payment Bridging Payments are made 4 times a year, with the final payment of £260 to be made to eligible families in December 2022. These payments are available for each school age child who gets free school meals because of low income. You can find out more about eligibility for free school meals on the MyGov.scot website.

If your child gets free school meals because you're on a low income and get a qualifying benefit you don’t need to apply for the payment. Your local council will make the payment to you automatically.

You have to apply for free school meals to get the payment if you meet the eligibility criteria for them and:

• you’ve never applied before or had help with school meals during the school holidays
• your child gets universal free school meals in primary 1 to 5.

You can find out more about who is eligible for the payments and how to apply on the MyGov.scot website.

You can get Child Benefit for any of your children who are under 16 and live in the UK. If they stay in most types of school, college or training after that age you can get Child Benefit until they're 20. Only one person can claim Child Benefit for a child.

You should claim Child Benefit as soon as your child is born or, if they're adopted, as soon as they come to live with you. Child Benefit can only be backdated for up to 3 months so if you claim it any time after this you'll miss some payments.

Visit www.gov.uk for more information on how to claim Child Benefit.

Guidance on eligibility, how to claim and how to challenge a decision is available on the Citizens Advice Scotland website.

Child Tax Credit is another payment made by the Government to help with the cost of bringing up a child. It's different from Child Benefit, which every child in the UK is eligible for, as not every household is eligible for Child Tax Credit. It depends on your circumstances, including your income, how many children are living with you and whether your child has a disability.

The Government is currently introducing Universal Credit, a new type of benefit which will eventually replace tax credits, including Child Tax Credit. Visit www.gov.uk for more information on Child Tax Credit, and whether Universal Credit has replaced it in your area yet. If you're thinking of claiming Universal Credit for the first time, you can get help and guidance through the process from Citizens Advice Scotland.

You may be entitled to apply for a school clothing grant, which provides financial help towards the cost of buying a school uniform. School clothing grants are normally a cash grant paid directly into your bank account from your local council. Eligibility criteria for school clothing grants (i.e. who can apply) is set by local councils.

Further information, and a direct link to local council websites, is available on the mygov.scot website.

All children get free school meals during term-time if they go to a local authority school and are in primary 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5.

Children in P6 and above can also get free lunches if you receive certain benefits. Older pupils aged above 16 can also receive free school meals if they receive the same qualifying benefits in their own right.

Visit the mygov.scot website to find out if your child is eligible to receive free school meals.

More information on help with school costs can also be found here. 

If you have a disabled child you may be eligible for additional financial support to help meet their care and mobility needs:

• There's Child Disability Payment (which replaces Disability Living Allowance for Children) to help with their care and mobility needs.
• You may also be entitled to Carer's Allowance.
• If your child is aged 16 or over they may be entitled to Adult Disability Payment.
• You may also be able to get a grant from the Family Fund.

Applying for benefits if your child is disabled can feel overwhelming at times, so for help and advice call the Money Talk Team or visit the Contact website for families with disabled children – they also have a helpline you can call.

Child Winter Heating Assistance

Children and young people in Scotland can receive Child Winter Heating Assistance if they're under 19 years old and get one of the following 'qualifying benefits':

• the highest rate of the care component of Child Disability Payment
• the highest rate of the care component of Disability Living Allowance for children
• the enhanced daily living component of Personal Independence Payment
• the enhanced rate of the daily living component of Adult Disability Payment.

They must be getting this on at least one day in the third full week of September.

Eligible children and young people living in Scotland do not need to apply. They’ll get their payment automatically from Social Security Scotland.

It’s upsetting enough if your child needs to go into hospital without worrying about how you’ll pay the travel and extra food costs of visiting them every day. So if you are the parent or primary carer of a child (under 18) who is an inpatient in hospital, you can claim for financial help towards food, travel and, where appropriate, accommodation when you go to see them. Claims can be made through the Young Patients Family Fund. You can also claim for financial help towards food, travel and accommodation for any of your child’s brothers or sisters under 18 years old who are coming to the hospital to see their sibling.

You must claim from the Young Patients Family Fund within 3 months of the young inpatient being discharged from hospital.

You can find out more about the Young Patients Family Fund and make a claim on the mygov.scot website.

If your child is 3 or 4 years old, you can access up to 1140 hours of funded early learning and childcare a year (around 30 hours a week in term time). About a quarter of 2 year olds are also eligible. You can find out more about funded ELC here.

In addition to the 1140 hours, you may be able to get help with childcare costs through tax credits for childcare, tax-free childcare or universal credit for childcare. Visit the Childcare Choices website to find out more.

If you’re looking after a child whose parent or parents have died, you may be able to apply for Guardian’s Allowance. For more information on this, and for how to apply, visit www.gov.uk.

Depending on your situation, you may be able to apply for a grant from a charity, which you won’t need to pay back. For example, some charities give grants to people who have a particular disability or illness, some give grants to people because of their job or a job they’ve had in the past, and others give grants depending on your age or gender.

You can use the grant finder on the Turn2Us website to see if there’s anything you can apply for in your area.

Separating from your partner is never going to be easy. The good news is, you don’t have to cope with all this alone. There are lots of organisations that can help with advice and support on financial issues, housing and wellbeing. Our page on separation has more information.

Raising a child or children on your own can be tough, but there’s lots of help and support out there for lone parents. 

• One Parent Families Scotland offer help and advice on managing money for single parent families. 
• Shared Parenting Scotland offer an online course to help you deal with money and debt issues.
• If you have any money worries, or if you’re in debt and you want some advice you can call the Money Talk Team for free and they’ll be able to chat through your options and help you find the best way forward.