More children in low income families to benefit from Scottish government income boost ahead of Christmas

The Scottish Child Payment (SCP), which is part of a wider package of payments aimed at tackling child poverty in Scotland, had previously only been available to eligible parents and carers of children under 6. At its spending review in May 2022, the Scottish Government announced that it would be increasing the payment from £20 per week to £25 per week from 14th November 2022 and extending it to include eligible children up to the age of 16. 

OPFS has played a key role in both the development and testing phases of the new SCP and has welcomed the increase in financial support and its extension to include older children, which will bring much needed support to single parent families who have been amongst the most impacted by soaring costs because of the cost-of-living crisis.  

As a result of being involved with the testing phase with Social Security Scotland, the first applications for the new SCP to reach Social Security Scotland will come from single parent families accessing support at OPFS in Glasgow.

Payments will be awarded to eligible families based on the date applications are received and are therefore being urged to submit applications no later than 14th November to qualify for the full amount. Families who submit applications after this date will not have payments backdated to the 14th November.

Satwat Rehman, CEO of OPFS said: 

“We were delighted to be asked by the Scottish Government to be involved in the development and testing phases of the new SCP. Our local services and our national lone parent helpline support single parents every day who are struggling to make ends meet and who are making huge sacrifices, such as skipping meals, just to meet the essential costs of raising their children alone. With rising costs and falling temperatures, this winter will be particularly challenging for families on a low income. The increase in financial support via the new SCP and its availability to parents and carers of older children will provide a much-needed lifeline to families on a low income. We hope the UK Government will follow suit and provide further support to low-income families in its upcoming autumn budget on Thursday.” 

Laura is a single parent from Glasgow.  She has an 11-year-old daughter and has relied on large and repeated levels of support.  Most of these have been of food and fuel crisis interventions. 

Laura said: “It has been so difficult to manage for so long now and this year has been the worst ever for me and my daughter.  I have had to rely on so much support from foodbanks and organisations like One Parent Families Scotland, just so that we can get by.   

“Knowing that I am now going to be able to receive this payment means that I will get £25 every week extra.  This will make things so much easier for me and make me feel like at least I will not need to depend on handouts and charity the way that I have previously”.