Best Start Grant: service level agreement between The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Scottish Ministers

2. Scope and Principles

2.1 This Agreement sets out the provisions of the relationship between Scottish Ministers and DWP in relation to the Best Start Grant (BSG) and 'the Services' DWP will provide to support this. The Services are described in Annexes 1 to 16 and relate to:

• BSG Pregnancy and Baby Payment (PBP) – from 10 December 2018
• BSG Early Learning Payment (ELP) – from 29 April 2019
• BSG School Payment (SP) – from 3 June 2019
• Best Start Food (BSF) – from 12 August 2019

2.2 Under the associated Data Sharing Agreement, DWP will provide data to enable Social Security Scotland to award Best Start Grant to residents in Scotland who meet the qualifying conditions as detailed in Annexes 1 to 5.

2.3 DWP will deal with customer enquiries relating to Best Start Grant by signposting customers to Social Security Scotland.

2.4 DWP and Scottish Ministers shall work in partnership to ensure that the Services are delivered in accordance with the terms of this Agreement.

2.5 The partnership will seek continuous improvement in delivery standards including sharing lessons from delivery of the Services insofar as relevant.

2.6 Each Party will act transparently and will work in a practical way in regards to reaching mutual agreement on any issues that may arise.