“Being responsible for a child means giving them a good life”
Member of Children’s Parliament, age 9
As part of social security powers, which were devolved to Scotland through the Scotland Act 2016, the Best Start Grant is split into three payments providing support to lower-income families during key transition periods in a child’s early years. The grant aims to help mitigate the effects of child poverty and material deprivation. The payment amounts are: Maternity and New Baby Payment: £600 for a first child and £300 for any subsequent child; Nursery/Early Learning Payment: £250; School Payment: £250.
In addition to a wider public consultation on the draft regulations for the Best Start Grant, Scottish Government commissioned Children’s Parliament to deliver a consultation with children to explore their views on and ideas for the Best Start Grant.
In the workshops, Members of Children’s Parliament discussed:
This consultation on the Best Start Grant followed our consultation on the Child Poverty Bill and Delivery Plan. One of the recommendations children made in our Child Poverty report was to provide additional financial support to families who are struggling. For the Best Start Grant, we returned to speak with some of the children who took part in the Child Poverty consultation, so that they could use their previous discussions to inform their ideas. In the Best Start Grant consultation, workshops involved 43 Members of Children’s Parliament between the ages of 8 and 12 years. We worked in three schools in the following local authorities: South Lanarkshire, Fife and the Scottish Borders. We sought to work with children from diverse backgrounds, experiences and abilities so that a range of views would be reflected in this report.
Our full report can be found below:
Thank you to Members of Children’s Parliament and staff from: