Question reference: S6W-17643
- Asked by: Fulton MacGregor, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 3 May 2023
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Current status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 15 May 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the campaign lunched by One Parent Families Scotland, #EndYoungParentPoverty, and its call for a top-up to the Scottish Child Payment for parents who are under 25 and in receipt of Universal Credit.
Answer
Universal Credit is reserved to Westminster and the UK Government has deliberately introduced age discrimination within it. We agree with campaigners that it should be paid at the same amount to everyone.
Universal Credit should be supporting families and children, not punishing them and we continue to call on the UK Government to urgently review Universal Credit, as it is fundamentally not fit for purpose.
We already take action to protect people against the impact of UK Government policies including the bedroom tax and benefit cap but we cannot mitigate every action from our fixed budget.
The Scottish Child Payment was doubled in April 2022 to £20 per eligible child and increased again to £25 when we extended it to under 16s in November, an increase of 150% in less than eight months.