People on Universal Credit and Pension Credit may soon see an extra £40 in their pay packets, thanks to an increase in the Scottish Child Payment. This additional amount is set to rise for certain claimants, as confirmed during a recent Work and Pensions Committee hearing.
Payment Rate Increase Confirmed
Charis Chittick, head of policy, strategy and communications for One Parent Families Scotland, told the committee: "Next year we are trialling an additional payment for families with a baby under one, to reflect the increased cost and risk of poverty in that first year. For those families, the payment will go up to £40 from the next financial year, that is from 2027."
Currently, the Scottish Child Payment provides £28.20 per week for each child under 16, equating to around £1,460 annually per child. As of September 2025, over 322,000 children were benefiting from the payment, which could total approximately £25,000 by a child's 16th birthday.
Who Qualifies for the Scottish Child Payment?
You may qualify if you or your partner receive one of the following benefits:
- Universal Credit
- Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA)
You may also be eligible if you alone are named on:
- Pension Credit
- Income Support
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
'Significant Difference' for Families
Ms Chittick highlighted the policy's impact: "Having measures like the Scottish Child Payment has made a significant difference for families. In the most recent child poverty stats, we see that in Scotland we have one in five children in poverty, compared with one in four across the UK. That shows the difference that having those different policy choices can make."
Introduced in February 2021 at £10 per week per child, the payment has evolved. Ms Chittick noted: "Families told us at that point that it paid for things such as swimming lessons that they could not otherwise afford. Now families are telling us that they could not live without it. They are having to use it to pay for their food shop because the cost of living has gone up so exponentially."
Extra Support for Parents
The UK Government has implemented policies to increase Universal Credit's standard allowance above inflation each April. For the April 2026 increase, rates rose by CPI inflation plus an extra 2.3%. Additionally, the two-child cap on Universal Credit was scrapped, allowing claims for more than two children. Child Benefit also remains available, paying £27.05 weekly for the eldest child and £17.90 for each additional child, though it must be repaid if individual income exceeds £60,000, and fully repaid above £80,000.
