Chamber and committees

The Care Leaver Payment (Scotland) Regulations 2026 state that in order to be eligible for the payment, a young person must have been looked after under section 17(6) of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 on or after their 16th birthday, and they must also have left care or continuing care on or after 1 April 2026.

Only young people who are looked after under section 17(6) of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 (and meet the other eligibility requirements) will receive the payment. Section 17(6) includes children who are in looked after kinship care, which means that they have been placed with kinship carers by the local authority. Young people who are subject to an order under section 11 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 are not looked after for the purposes of section 17(6) of that Act and are therefore not eligible for the payment.

The purpose of the payment is to help ‘care leavers’ (those looked after in accordance with section 17) overcome financial challenges and to provide additional financial security when they leave care and move on into adulthood and more independent living. Research and feedback from stakeholders show that the leaving care transition point is a large life milestone that may be especially challenging for care leavers, if informal support networks are absent.

The Care Leaver Payment (Scotland) Regulations 2026 state that in order to be eligible for the payment, a young person must have been looked after under section 17(6) of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 on or after their 16th birthday, and they must also have left care or continuing care on or after 1 April 2026.

The purpose of the payment is to help ‘care leavers’ (those looked after in accordance with section 17) overcome financial challenges and to provide additional financial security when they leave care and move on into adulthood and more independent living. Research and feedback from stakeholders show that the leaving care transition point is a large life milestone that may be especially challenging for care leavers, if informal support networks are absent.

Section 17(6) includes children who are in looked after kinship care, which means that they have been placed with kinship carers by the local authority. Young people who are subject to an order under section 11 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 are not looked after for the purposes of section 17(6) of that Act and are therefore not eligible for the payment.

Whilst this cohort of young people will not be able to access the Care Leaver Payment, they may be entitled to the Care Experience Bursary and universally available support including Job Start Payment, the Scottish Welfare Fund and Universal Credit.

Our funding position has not changed, and we maintain that decision making on local transport priorities remains the responsibility of individual local authorities and the Scottish Government cannot intervene in this process.