ANTI-POVERTY PAYMENT TO BENEFIT 16,400 CHILDREN IN WEST LOTHIAN

ANTI-POVERTY PAYMENT TO BENEFIT 16,400 CHILDREN IN WEST LOTHIAN

Angela Constance MSP for Almond Valley has welcomed the historic funding for Scotland’s new social security agency – a move that will put money directly into the pockets of low-income families and carers in West Lothian.

Finance Secretary Kate Forbes has committed a landmark £3.4billion allocation for benefit spend in the next year – including funding to deliver the “game-changing” Scottish Child Payment by the end of this year.

An estimated 16,400 children in 9,500 families across West Lothian will benefit from the Scottish Government’s new anti-poverty payment – with the first payments made before Christmas 2020.   

The Scottish Government has already introduced seven benefits including Best Start Grant, which offers financial support to low-income families in the early years of a child’s life and the Funeral Support Payment, the standard rate of which is being increased from £700 to £1,000, from April.

The Scottish Welfare Fund also increases by £3 million, from £38 million to £41 million for 2020/21.

Ms Constance said:

“The Scottish Government’s  plan to commit £3.4 billion to social security is central to our commitment to tackling child poverty, and create a social security system with fairness, dignity and respect at its heart. This £3.4 billion will go directly to the people in West Lothian who need it the most. Yet, these are just the first steps in the delivery of even more benefits to support people in our society as the Scottish Government looks to tackle inequality and reduce poverty.”

ENDS

Notes:

The qualifying benefits for the Scottish Child Payment include Universal Credit and all the legacy benefits it is replacing, as well as Pension Credit. Universal Credit is in the process of being rolled out and current caseloads across local authorities are not representative of the long-term steady state. We also have limited information on the number of children in families on Universal Credit.

Given these limitations, we have estimated the above figures by applying proportions from HMRC data on the number of children and families receiving Tax Credits in each local authority prior to the rollout of Universal Credit Full Service. To avoid double counting and because most families with children in receipt of legacy benefits receive tax credits we have not factored in other legacy benefits.

The above caveats mean that the figures should be treated with caution and could overestimate or underestimate the numbers eligible in individual local authorities. We will continue to refine our analysis of the Scottish Child Payment as we develop the policy.

* Number of families was below 100 and not reported in the data

** please note that figures may not add up due to rounding

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