Does Scotland have its own version of Child Benefit?

Full answer

Child Benefit is administered by HMRC and paid at the same rate across the whole of the UK: £27.05 a week for the first or only child and £17.90 a week for each additional child in 2026/27, regardless of whether the family lives in Scotland, England, Wales or Northern Ireland, and subject to the same High Income Child Benefit Charge rules starting at £60,000 and fully clawing back the benefit at £80,000. However, since the Scottish Parliament gained further welfare powers, the Scottish Government has introduced its own additional payment on top of Child Benefit: the Scottish Child Payment, administered by Social Security Scotland rather than the DWP or HMRC. It is a weekly payment (usually paid four-weekly) for low-income families with children under 16, on top of any UK-wide benefits they already receive, and is not means-tested in the same way as Child Benefit -- eligibility depends on receiving a qualifying benefit such as Universal Credit, Tax Credits, Income Support or Pension Credit. This means a low-income family with children in Scotland can end up with meaningfully more state support per child than an equivalent family in England or Wales, even though the headline UK-wide Child Benefit rate is identical. Families should check eligibility for the Scottish Child Payment via mygov.scot in addition to applying for standard Child Benefit via gov.uk.

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More answers

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