More than 100,000 children in poorer Scottish families who are eligible for new benefits could miss out without action to improve awareness and take-up of the payment, the Scottish Greens have said.
The Scottish Child Payment gives eligible families £10 a week for every child under six and will be extended to children under 16 by the end of 2022.
The Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC) has predicted 74% of those eligible will be claiming the money by 2024-25, with approximately 102,000 children missing out.
Although the SFC cautioned there was “significant uncertainty around our forecast” because the benefit is completely new, the Scottish Greens are calling for more to be done to increase the number of families receiving the payment.
The party’s social security spokeswoman and co-leader, Alison Johnstone, said: “It is concerning that support aimed at Scotland’s children might not get to as many as 100,000 of them.
“If we are to meet legal targets to drastically reduce child poverty, we must ensure that all support aimed at our poorest families gets where it needs to go.
“The Scottish Government have ambitious targets for reducing child poverty but to meet them families need to get what they are entitled to.
“Ministers must explain why it looks like so many families may miss out on much-needed support and put in place a plan to quickly increase awareness and take-up of the payment.”
The SFC estimates 389,000 children will be eligible for the Scottish Child Payment by 2024-25 and cost £162 million, a large increase on the £21 million cost forecast for this financial year.
The introduction of the new benefit, which comes following the transfer of more social security powers to Holyrood, is being brought in “at unprecedented speed”, according to a Scottish Government spokeswoman.
She added: “Encouraging individuals to claim the financial assistance they are entitled to is a duty of government and a social responsibility.
“Our strong take-up strategy is backed by £600,000 funding and we have already proved that we can deliver successfully on other benefits.
“We will continue to do everything we can to promote take-up and deliver the benefit almost two years early.
“Social security payments, including the Scottish Child Payment, will be at risk if a new Scottish budget is not agreed and in place before April 1 2020 so we urge Parliament to work constructively with us to pass this budget.”
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