The Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendment and Transitional Provision) (Scotland) Regulations 2022: equality impact assessment

Background

The Five Family Payments

SCP launched on 15 February 2021 and was introduced by the Scottish Government to tackle child poverty for low income families in receipt of certain reserved benefits. As of 1 April 2022, it pays the equivalent of £20 a week per child every four weeks in arrears to families with no cap on the number of eligible children a family can claim for. SCP is currently paid to families with children under the age of 6. While it has always been our intention that SCP should be paid to children under 16, we were able to introduce the Scottish Child Payment early for all eligible children under six. By now rolling out SCP to children aged between 6 and 15, we are expanding this intervention to tackle child poverty which is unparalleled across the UK.

The Scottish Government has replaced the Sure Start Maternity Grant in Scotland with the Best Start Grant (BSG) payments. The BSG is intended to support eligible families with the additional costs associated with having a child in their early years. It aims to help alleviate material deprivation, tackle inequality, and contribute to closing the educational attainment gap. The grant provides support to low income families at three key transition points in a child's early years.

The BSG consists of 3 payments: Pregnancy and Baby; Early Learning; and School Age. As of 1 April 2022, the Pregnancy and Baby Payment provides £642.35 for a first child and £321.20 for second and subsequent children. An additional payment of £321.20 is payable in the case of a multiple birth. The payment also provides support for people who have had a stillbirth. Both the Early Learning Payment and the School Age Payment provide £267.65 per child.

The Scottish Government replaced the UK Healthy Start Voucher scheme in Scotland with Best Start Foods (BSF) on 12 August 2019. BSF supports low income families with a pregnant woman and/or a child or children under the age of 3. The payments are delivered via a pre-paid card.

BSF currently provides £18 every four weeks throughout pregnancy, £36 every four weeks from birth until a child turns one to support breastfeeding mothers or help with the costs of providing first infant formula milk, then £18 every four weeks from one until a child turns three.

The FFP all target support to low income families. For most eligible individuals, qualifying benefits are used as a proxy for means testing. For BSF, there are income thresholds which apply to some of the benefits. Under 18s are automatically entitled to BSG without the need for a qualifying benefit. This is also true for 18 and 19 year olds who are still dependent on someone who is either receiving benefits for them or is a kinship carer for them. Pregnant women who are under 18 and their partners are automatically entitled to BSF, without the need for a qualifying benefit. This is also true for parents who are under 18 and have a child who is under 1. Where a pregnant women is under 18 and her or her partner are in receipt of BSF they continue to be eligible for BSF without the need for a qualifying benefit once the pregnant woman turns 18 up until their child turns one.

Policy Aims

The aims of the policy changes we are introducing are:

• To increase the value of SCP to £25 a week so that parents/carers of eligible children receive greater financial support;
• To expand eligibility for SCP to low income families with a child aged between 6 and 15 so that more parents/carers of children in poverty receive support;
• In the unfortunate situation where a child to whom a claim relates dies, these amendments will also provide for a payment, equivalent to the value of Scottish Child Payments made in the 12 weeks prior to the child's death, to be made. This will bring the payment closer in line with the reserved benefits which act as qualifying benefits for Scottish Child Payment and provide a more compassionate and dignified system of support;
• To allow reinstatement of SCP within 12 weeks of the effective change rather than within 12 weeks of the original determination to ensure proper checks are carried out when a person becomes eligible for SCP after a long period of ineligibility;
• To introduce auto-award for elements of BSG to reduce the need for applications and increase uptake;
• To update the meaning of surrogacy for BSG and BSF to mirror changes to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 and ensure that all individuals who are responsible for a child through formal surrogacy arrangements can be classed as having responsibility for the child;
• To remove the condition that the child is not looked after by the local authority in residential care for BSG to align more closely with SCP and BSF;
• To provide new exceptions to the general rule, that an individual is only entitled to the higher Pregnancy and Baby Payment when they are applying in respect of their first child. This will provide greater support for families in the following situations, who are more likely to be starting from scratch without the items that the Pregnancy and Baby payment is intended to provide:
  • individuals granted refugee status, humanitarian protection, or leave under the Afghanistan resettlement schemes or the Ukraine resettlement schemes who have a child/children from before they arrived in the UK;
  • individuals who took on responsibility for a child/children who was not their own when that child/children was more than 12 months old; and individuals who have been forced to leave their home with a child/children due to domestic abuse
• To amend the kinship care definition for SCP, BSG and BSF to ensure that, as we roll out Scottish Child Payment to children aged between 6 and 15, eligible kinship carers who are not related to the child but are known to them and have a pre-existing relationship with the child are included.