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Who can get a school age payment

To get a school age payment, you must:

Responsible for a child whose date of birth is between 1 March 2020 and 28 February 2021

To get a school age payment for a child you or your partner must be responsible for the child. This will usually mean that you are getting child benefit, universal credit or pension credit for the child, but can also apply in other situations where you are caring for the child, for example if you are a kinship carer, guardian or you are adopting the child.

Usually only one school age payment can be made for a child but this does not apply if you have become responsible for the child after someone else (who is not your partner) has received a payment. For example, you are caring for a child as a kinship carer and the child’s parent has previously received a school-age payment.

Getting a ‘qualifying benefit’

If you are 18 or over you'll get a school age payment if you or your partner get any of the following benefits:

  • universal credit
  • income support
  • income-based jobseeker’s allowance
  • income-related employment and support allowance
  • pension credit
  • housing benefit

You can be entitled if you were getting universal credit within the last month but it has now stopped.

Read more about the qualifying benefit rules and what happens if your benefit has been cut.

If you are aged under 18 you can get a school age payment even if you are not on a qualifying benefit and no matter what income you have.

If you are aged 18 or 19 and someone else still gets benefits for looking after you, you can get a school age payment if the person who cares for you gets:

  • child benefit
  • universal credit
  • pension credit

You must still be included in their claim, for example as you are under 19 and still at school.

Claim at the right time

You can claim any time from 1 June 2025 up to 28 February 2026.

How much is a school age payment

The school age payment is £319.80.

Claiming a school age payment

To claim you can:

  • phone Social Security Scotland on 0800 182 2222
  • claim online at mygov.scot
  • download a paper application form from mygov.scot

If you are getting Scottish child payment for a child, the school age payment can be awarded without you having to make a claim for it.

If you disagree with the decision made by Social Security Scotland about your best start grant claim you can challenge this decision.

More information

For in-depth information about the Best Start grant, read chapter 62 of the Welfare benefits handbook. You'll need a subscription to log in and read the content. 

Read the Best Start grant regulations on legislation.gov.uk.