Winter Heating Payment (Low Income) (Scotland): child rights and wellbeing impact assessment

Will there be different impacts on different groups of children and young people?

8. Article 1 of the UNCRC defines a child as anyone under the age of 18, unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier. The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 states that a child is “(a) a person under the age of 16, or (b) a person who is a qualifying young person for the purposes of Part 9 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992.” Some of these groups of children who are impacted by WHP will have protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 (e.g. disability, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation.

9. The introduction of WHP will have different impacts on different groups of children. The support is targeted towards those who might have a greater need for help with their heating bills including families with a young child (under the age of 5) or those who have a child with disabilities. It will also impact children who have parents with disabilities or are living with someone of pension age who meet the eligibility criteria for a WHP payment.