The Scottish Government has confirmed that significant funding has already been distributed to families of children living with disabilities, as well as urging more people to use the opportunity to receive assistance with covering the costs of caring for a disabled or terminally ill child or young person.
Since the launch of the Child Disability Payment, over £130 million has been allocated to thousands of families around Scotland with the families of over 54,000 children and young people receiving the payment in December 2022.
The government also confirmed that just over 13,000 of those families are receiving the funding thanks to new applications, whilst over 41,0000 children have been given the benefit thanks to the award being transferred from Disability Living Allowance from the Department for Work and Pensions.
Ben Macpherson, Minister for Social Security, said:
“Child Disability Payment helps parents to support their children and assists young people to live their lives to the fullest. Therefore, it is welcome news that so far more than £130 million in Child Disability Payments has been distributed to thousands of families with disabled children, to help cover extra costs.
“New applications are increasing, and Social Security Scotland is working to process these as quickly as they can, while seeking to ensure that right decisions are made first time. We are only being asked to look against decisions in a very small proportion of cases.
“The process of transferring people’s awards from the DWP’s DLA for children to our Child Disability Payment is also continuing at pace, and on course to be almost entirely complete in spring.
“The Scottish social security system has been designed in partnership with those who have experience of applying for benefits previously. This has helped us to build a system that is easier to access, and where people are treated with dignity, fairness and respect.
“I urge anyone who thinks they, their child, or someone they know may be eligible for Scottish Government benefits to check and apply.”
The announcement also stated that the Scottish Government is on track to transfer the awards for nearly everybody that is still receiving Disability Living Allowance for Children in Scotland by the spring.
