Scottish Child Payment not enough to recover families from the pandemic, Greens warn
The Scottish Child Payment, which has started to be paid today, will not be enough to support families recovering from the pandemic, the Scottish Greens have warned.
The payment, a £10 top-up of existing benefits, has begun rollout, but poverty groups have urged the First Minister to at least double it. It is also estimated that thousands will miss it because of low take-up.
Commenting, Scottish Greens social security spokesperson Alison Johnstone said: “Even if all 77,000 applications received so far for the Scottish Child Payment are successful, that would be less than half of the 173,000 children now estimated to be eligible by the Scottish Fiscal Commission.
“Scotland was already on track to miss child poverty targets before coronavirus arrived. The pandemic raises even more concerns because of its impact on families with low and insecure incomes. The Scottish Government needs to show more ambition to support the household incomes of those in most need, whether that means rent controls, expanding free public transport and school meals, investing to cut energy bills or providing the uplift on the Scottish Child Payment that anti-poverty charities have called for.”