More than 800 North Lanarkshire families benefit from new grant to give babies the ‘Best Start’

The Pregnancy and Baby Payment is for low income families and provides £600 for a first child and £300 for any siblings thereafter. The North Lanarkshire families eligible for the grant received a total of £241,000 between them.

The payment is part of the Scottish Government’s new Best Start Grant package for families in receipt of eligible benefits - including Universal Credit, Income Support, Housing Benefit – and tax credits to help at key stages in a child’s life.

Early Learning Payment - £250 for children aged between two and three and a half went live on April 29. School Age Payment - £250 for when a child would normally take up a school place – opens on June 3.

When the School Age Payments begin in June, the Best Start Grant package, along with Carer’s Allowance Supplement, will bring the total number of Scottish Government benefits being administered by Social Security Scotland to four.

Cabinet Secretary for Social Security Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “The huge take-up of this new benefit in its first three months highlights just what can be achieved when you design a service with the people who will actually use it.”