Over £130m of Child Disability Payments distributed in Scotland

More than £130 million has been distributed to thousands of families with disabled children since the launch of a Scottish Government benefit.

Child Disability Payment was introduced to replace the Disability Living Allowance for children with mental or physical disabilities living in Scotland. New figures show that 54,000 children and young people were receiving Child Disability Payment in December last year, 41,000 of whom  had their award transferred from Disability Living Allowance while 13,000 were from new applications.

A similar scheme was also introduced for adults in Scotland with Adult Disability Payment replacing Personal Independent Payments.

Social Security Scotland expect to have completed the transfer of awards of families still receiving Disability Living Allowance by Spring.

Minister for Social Security Ben Macpherson said: ‘Child Disability Payment helps parents to support their children and assists young people to live their lives to the fullest. Therefore, it is welcome news that so far more than £130 million in Child Disability Payments has been distributed to thousands of families with disabled children, to help cover extra costs.

‘New applications are increasing, and Social Security Scotland is working to process these as quickly as they can, while seeking to ensure that right decisions are made first time. We are only being asked to look again at decisions in a very small proportion of cases.

‘The Scottish social security system has been designed in partnership with those who have experience of applying for benefits previously. This has helped us to build a system that is easier to access, and where people are treated with dignity, fairness and respect.

‘I urge anyone who thinks they, their child or someone they know may be eligible for Scottish Government benefits to check and apply.’

Jamee Killin, from Edinburgh, applied for Child Disability Payment for her daughter who has ADHD. She said: ‘The process of applying was straightforward and the staff were extremely helpful. I have already recommended it to people and would urge anyone who thinks they might be eligible to apply.’