Scottish Child Payment and Best Start

Families in Scotland who get certain benefits can claim £28.20 a week for each child under 16, plus one-off Best Start Grant payments and weekly help with food from Best Start Foods. You apply to Social Security Scotland, and none of these payments reduce your other benefits.

Updated 1 October 2026

£28.20a week for each child under 16, from 1 April 2026

£796.65Best Start Grant for a first child

£5.60–£11.20a week on a Best Start Foods card

Scottish Child Payment

Scottish Child Payment is a weekly payment for each child under 16, paid every 4 weeks. It went up from £27.15 to £28.20 a week on 1 April 2026.

Children under 16	A week	Every 4 weeks
1	£28.20	£112.80
2	£56.40	£225.60
3	£84.60	£338.40

Who can get it

You live in Scotland, you’re responsible for a child under 16, and you or your partner get one of these:

Universal Credit
Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
Income Support, income-related Employment and Support Allowance, or Pension Credit, if you’re the person named on the claim

Child Benefit on its own doesn’t qualify, and neither do New Style Jobseeker’s Allowance or New Style Employment and Support Allowance on their own. You can apply while a claim for a qualifying benefit is still being decided.

If your Universal Credit works out at £0 because of your income, there’s no award, and so no Scottish Child Payment. If your award is reduced to nothing by a sanction or deduction, you can still get it.

Best Start Grant

Best Start Grant is three one-off payments at key stages. You need to get a qualifying benefit, which can be Universal Credit, Housing Benefit, Income Support, Pension Credit, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance or income-related Employment and Support Allowance. There’s no limit on your earnings, and parents under 18 don’t need a benefit.

Payment	Amount	When you can apply
Pregnancy and Baby Payment: first child	£796.65	From the end of the 24th week of pregnancy until the baby is 6 months old
Pregnancy and Baby Payment: later children	£398.35	The same window
Multiple births: extra for each birth	£398.35	The same window. Twins with no other child: £1,593.35
Early Learning Payment	£331.95	When your child is between 2 and 3 years 6 months old
School Age Payment	£331.95	From 1 June to the end of February in the year your child is old enough to start P1. A child born from March 2021 to February 2022 has a window from 1 June 2026 to 28 February 2027

“First child” means you have no other child under 16. If you’re a kinship carer or adopting, the Pregnancy and Baby Payment window is 12 months.

Best Start Foods

Best Start Foods is a prepaid card for healthy food, milk, fruit and vegetables. You qualify in pregnancy, or if you have a child under 3, and you get a qualifying benefit, which is the same list as for Best Start Grant. There’s no limit on earnings if you get Universal Credit.

Who	A week	Every 4 weeks
During pregnancy	£5.60	£22.40
A baby under 1	£11.20	£44.80
A child aged 1 to 3	£5.60	£22.40

If your family has no recourse to public funds, you can still apply if your household’s take-home pay is £2,223.24 a month or less for a couple, or £1,878.22 or less for one adult, and you have a child under 3.

How to apply

You apply to Social Security Scotland, online at mygov.scot, by phone on 0800 182 2222 (8am to 5pm, Monday to Friday), or by post. Scottish Child Payment, Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods share one application form.

Apply for Scottish Child Payment on mygov.scot
Apply for Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods on mygov.scot

Check what your family could get

Choose Scotland in the calculator and it adds these payments to your Universal Credit, Child Benefit and childcare help.

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Official sources

More guides

Benefits: UK Child Benefits is an independent calculator. It is not affiliated with Social Security Scotland, the Scottish Government, GOV.UK or the Department for Work and Pensions. This guide explains the rules in general and may not cover every situation; check mygov.scot before you apply.