Children’s benefits

Pre-order Children's Handbook Scotland 2021/2022

21 September 2021

A complete guide to the benefits and tax credits that apply when children are living away from their parents, including children in kinship or foster care, children looked after by the local authority, and children at residential school, in residential care or in hospital.

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Terminal illness and child disability payment

Special rules for child disability payment if your child is terminally ill

Children’s benefits Disability benefits Disabled children Page Scotland

Test case

Two child limit challenge

R (SC and Ors) v SSWP [2021] UKSC 26

This was a challenge to the two child limit, introduced by the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016, which restricts support for children in families claiming child tax credit or universal credit to the first two children (subject to limited exceptions). The limit applies to families where the third or subsequent child is born after 5 April 2017. The legal challenge was partially successful in the High Court but an appeal to the Court of Appeal on the lawfulness of the overall policy was unsuccessful. An appeal to the Supreme Court was heard remotely across 20-22 October 2020 and judgment was handed down on 9/7/21 dismissing the appeal.

Children’s benefits Current Test case Two child limit UK

Briefing

Children can't wait: investing in social security to reduce child poverty in Northern Ireland

26 August 2021

The upcoming Anti-Poverty Strategy is a chance for the Northern Irish Executive to invest in measures that make a difference for children. By setting out an ambitious vision, measurable targets, and by committing to investment in children, the Anti-Poverty Strategy can set us on a path to a future where no child grows up in poverty. This briefing by Save the Children UK and CPAG looks at some of the ways the Executive could achieve this. It examines how changes in social security would lift children out of poverty.

Benefit levels Briefing Children’s benefits Devolution Tax credits Two child limit UK Universal credit Northern Ireland

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Best start foods

A new payment card for pregnant women and families with a child under 3 in Scotland

Best Start Children’s benefits Page Scotland

Child disability payment legislation

Children’s benefits Disability benefits Disabled children Scotland

Child disability payment and 'severe mental impairment'

Children’s benefits Disability benefits Disabled children Scotland

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Introduction of child disability payment

Child disability payment is replacing disability living allowance for children in Scotland

Children and families Children’s benefits Devolution Disabled children Page Scotland

Briefing

Universal credit: what needs to change to make it fit for children and families?

21 July 2021

Universal credit (UC) is now the main working-age benefit in the UK. Since its inception, UC has been plagued with administrative issues and budget cuts and, as a result, its early promise to reduce poverty has yet to be realised. When the pandemic hit, swift changes were needed to make UC fit for purpose including an increase in the amount of financial support provided and a relaxation of some of its most punitive rules. However, the vast majority of these positive changes have already been reversed, or are due to be reversed in the coming months.

Benefit delivery Benefit levels Briefing Children’s benefits UK Universal credit Work and pay

Press release

Official figures: number of families affected by two-child limit reaches 318,000

15 July 2021

Official figures out today show the number of families affected by the two-child limit in universal credit and tax credits jumped by 67,000 in the year to April 2021 to reach 318,000. 1.1 million children are now affected by the policy, up from 900,000 in April 2020.

Benefit levels Child poverty statistics Children’s benefits Press release Tax credits Two child limit UK Universal credit