THE expansion of a flagship SNP benefit for vulnerable children in Scotland is on track after an agreement over data sharing was reached with the UK Government.
Fears had been raised the plan to rollout of the Scottish Child Payment to eligible children aged up to 16 by the end of 2022 was in doubt because of issues in obtaining information from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).
In a letter to the House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee published last week, UK Minister Chloe Smith said a delivery plan was on track to meet the Scottish Government’s timetable.
She also said public announcements and commitments “should not be made before there is clarity on what support DWP can provide”.
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But the Scottish Government hit back, saying it wanted to use another solution to support delivery of the benefit and would make statements on policies “as we see fit”.
The Scottish Child Payment, which was introduced in February last year, currently pays £10 a week to eligible families for each child under six to help tackle poverty. It will be doubled to £20 per week per child from April.
In the letter Smith wrote: “The Scottish Government’s current design for payment to 6 to 16 year olds builds in key data information dependencies with DWP which were not agreed/confirmed before the policy was announced.
“DWP has been clear from the outset that providing this information was complex and required a different approach to the information already provided for children aged zero to five years.”
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She said that through “successful joint working” of officials development of the “technical solution” was underway.
But she added: “Both my predecessor and I have made it clear to our Scottish counterparts that public announcements and commitments should not be made before there is clarity on what support DWP can provide.”
Scotland’s Social Security Minister Ben Macpherson said: “It is for Scottish Ministers to make public statements as we see fit regarding policies that we are intent on delivering, while working professionally with UK Ministers on the delivery of devolved social security.”
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