Job Grant consultation: response

Introduction and background

The Scottish Government has committed to introducing a Job Grant: a new benefit to support young people moving into employment. It aims to help meet some of the initial costs of starting work, including travel, and to support a smooth transition into employment for young people on low incomes. This should help reduce the risk of them becoming unemployed or economically inactive when they are older.

In the 2019-20 Programme for Government^[1], we announced that Job Grant would be renamed Job Start Payment and would launch in spring 2020. The name is being changed, following user research, to better reflect its purpose and to promote uptake.

As part of the Social Security in Scotland consultation which ran from July to October 2016 we asked what the Scottish Government should consider in developing the Job Grant. We received 131 responses, 51 from individuals and 80 from organisations, with almost all supporting its proposed introduction. A number of responses stressed that the scheme should be simple for both applicants and administrators.

We originally proposed that Job Grant would include a bus pass for 3 months along with a cash payment of £100 (£250 for applicants with children). Following consideration of the consultation responses we decided instead to add the average costs of bus transport (£150) to the financial element of the grant. This will provide greater flexibility, enabling young people to fund the cost of travelling to their new job using the method of transport best suited to their individual needs.

The Job Start Payment will, therefore, comprise of a cash payment of either £250 or £400, the higher amount being payable to recipients who have children. Young people (aged between 16 and 24 inclusive i.e. until their 25th birthday) will be able to receive Job Start Payment if they have been out of paid work and in receipt of a qualifying benefit for 6 months before they receive an offer of employment. Care leavers will be able to apply for an additional year (i.e. until their 26th birthday) and will only have to be out of paid work and in receipt of a qualifying benefit on the date of the job offer in order to be eligible. They will not need to have been receiving the benefit for the previous 6 months.