Best Start Grant: business and regulatory impact assessment

This business and regulatory impact assessment (BRIA) considers the potential effects of the The Early Years Assistance (Best Start Grants) (Scotland) Regulations 2018 and how it impacts on businesses.


Objective

Scottish Ministers want to make Scotland the best place in the world for a child to grow up. Early interventions and preventative work will target the earliest years of a child's life, to build strong foundations and reduce the number of adverse childhood experiences that we know have lasting impacts on our children and shape their lives as adults [4] .

The BSG is one of a range of measures aimed at giving children the best start in life and will pay qualifying families £600 at around the time of the birth of the first child and £300 on the birth of every subsequent child. An additional payment of £300 is payable in the case of a multiple birth. Qualifying families will also receive £250 around the time the child starts nursery and a further £250 when they start primary school.

BSG will contribute to fulfilling the Scottish Government's National Outcomes and will specifically contribute towards the following Outcomes:

  • We grow up loved, safe and respected so that we realise our full potential
  • We tackle poverty by sharing opportunities, wealth and power more equally
  • We are well educated, skilled and able to contribute to society

Building on the Social Security (Scotland) Act's framework of a benefit that is founded on dignity, respect and a human based approach, Scottish Ministers are commited to assisting people in accessing their full entitlement.

The BSG pregnancy and baby payment represents a significant additional investment by comparison to SSMG. The additional spend is as a result of the extension of eligibility criteria for the BSG, providing payments for 2 nd and subsequent children and introducing 2 further payments during a child's early years.

Contact

Email: Alison Melville alison.melville@gov.scot 

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