Take-up rates of Scottish benefits: October 2022

Introduction

The Social Security Scotland Charter sets out what people should expect from Scotland's social security system. This includes working towards a better future by investing in the people of Scotland and making a positive difference to all our lives. As part of this the Scottish Government has committed to improving take-up, ensuring as many people as possible get what they are entitled to and making a particular effort to reach people who are most likely to be excluded.

This is a new, annual publication that contains our latest estimates of take-up of the Scottish benefits delivered by Social Security Scotland, covering:

• Scottish Child Payment
• Best Start Grant
• Best Start Foods
• Young Carer Grant
• Job Start Payment
• Funeral Support Payment

What is take-up?

• A take-up rate is the percentage of people entitled to a benefit that actually receive it.
• Some people do not apply for benefits they are entitled to, this could be due to: social barriers (e.g. perceived stigma of applying for benefits), costly or complex access (e.g. complex application process), or a lack of information (e.g. people being unaware of available support).
• We calculate the take-up rate by dividing the number of recipients of a benefit by the number of people eligible for the benefit (whether they recieved the benefit or not).
• While the number of people receiving these benefits is known, the number of people eligible to claim these benefits has to be estimated. This means the take-up rates in this publication are estimates only and contain a degree of uncertainty.