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Payment boost for low income families welcomed


By Alan Beresford

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LOW income families in Moray and Aberdeenshire and Moray will benefit from a £320 uplift before Christmas from the Scottish Government.

MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast Karen Adam.
MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast Karen Adam.

The move has been welcomed by local MSP Karen Adam MSP which Social Justice Secretary Shona Robison highlighted during a debate on the commitments in the SNP Scottish Government’s Programme for Government which aim to create a fairer society.

Families eligible will receive payments of £160 per child in October and again in December. Two Bridging Payments of £100 have already been made which takes the total to £520 this year.

The cash is equivalent to the Scottish Child Payment, a £10-a-week benefit to assist with the costs of caring for a child aged under six years old. The Scottish Government will extend the Scottish Child Payment to all eligible under-16s by the end of 2022 and are committed to double the payment to £20 per week as quickly as possible.

Ms Robison highlighted the payments in the Scottish Parliament just a day after the six Tory MPs failed to vote to stop the UK government’s plans to cut the incomes of six million people across the UK by £1040 a year – the biggest cut to welfare since the 1930s.

Ms Adam MSP said: “I know that many families in Aberdeenshire and Moray are finding it hard just now.

"The impact that the pandemic has had on household finances is real, and has only been made worse by the cost of Tories' obsession with Brexit and their unrelenting cruel austerity agenda.

“I am pleased that in Scotland, we have an SNP Scottish Government doing right thing by its citizens with these payments meaning £562,300 in the pockets of 5623 low income families in Aberdeenshire and Moray.

“The Scottish Child Payment is already the most ambitious anti-poverty measure currently being undertaken anywhere in the UK and we have committed to doubling it to £20-a-week per child as soon as possible in this parliamentary term.

“It’s clear that building a better future for children in Aberdeenshire and Moray, and right across Scotland, is of at the top of the agenda in the SNP’s Programme for Government.

“As the Tories plough on with their indefensible move to cut £20-a-week in Universal Credit from those who need it most, the SNP government are using the powers we have to provide real, practical help for families in Scotland. It’s crystal clear that the only way to keep Scotland safe from Westminster cuts is to become an independent country.”


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