Job Grant consultation: response

Questions 4 and 5: Payment format

Section 6 of the consultation asked questions about the proposed value and format of the payment. It set out that Job Grant will consist of a single payment of £250 unless the applicant has responsibility for a child in which case the amount will be £400. Paying the higher amount to people with children is consistent with the Scottish Government's aim of eradicating child poverty and recognises that people with children may face increased costs, for example for childcare when moving into work.

Repeat payments

The consultation proposed that a young person could only ever receive one Job Grant payment, even if they had more than one qualifying period of unemployment. Some respondents felt that this was unreasonable since young people may find it difficult to obtain or sustain secure employment.

We have amended recognising that a young person could experience more than one period of being out of work for six months or more before their 25^th (or 26^th in the case of care leavers) birthday. A young person who meets the eligibility criteria will, therefore, be able to receive more than one Job Start Payment but only after two years have elapsed since their previous payment.

Varied or flexible payments

While the consultation analysis indicates that the majority of the respondents agreed with the proposed format of Job Grant, a number suggested introducing different amounts tailored to different needs. Suggestions included awarding a higher amount to provide more money for travel costs for people in rural areas, the costs of specialist equipment for some types of job, or the generally increased costs for disabled people and for young carers. A number of responses also suggested providing payment in instalments.

We estimate that the introduction of Job Start Payment will support the transition of more than 5,000 young people into employment every year. The grant already includes a higher payment for parents and relaxed eligibility criteria for care leavers. The introduction of further flexible or higher payments for different groups would not only increase this cost, it would make the grant more complicated to apply for, which is likely to affect take up, and to administer. This would not be consistent with the principle that the Scottish social security system is to be efficient and to deliver value for money.

We do not, therefore, intend to introduce higher payments, flexible payment amounts or payment in instalments. Instead our approach has been to make the eligibility criteria and the application process as straightforward as possible for all applicants.