Shona Robison suggests Scottish child payment may have reached peak to incentivise work

Shona Robison has suggested further increases to the Scottish child payment could put off people seeking work.

Shona Robison has been criticised by anti-poverty campaigners after raising the prospect the Scottish child payment may have reached its peak to prevent it becoming a barrier to people obtaining employment.

The Finance Secretary has also warned she is still awaiting the Treasury confirming how much she will receive to mitigate national insurance rises.

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Scottish Finance Minister Shona Robison (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)Scottish Finance Minister Shona Robison (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
Scottish Finance Minister Shona Robison (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

The SNP Finance Secretary was giving evidence to Holyrood’s Finance and Public Administration Committee over her draft Budget for the 2025-26 financial year.

Ms Robison’s draft Budget is poised to be backed by MSPs after Anas Sarwar indicated Scottish Labour will abstain on the spending plans, allowing the legislation underpinning the Budget to proceed.

Campaigners have called for the Scottish child payment to rise to £40 a week, amid the Scottish Government facing pressure over a spiralling bill for social security in the coming years.

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But the Finance Secretary has raised the prospect that the Scottish child payment, which increased to £26.70 a week in April 2024 and will only be hiked by 45p a week next year, may not be able to rise further in the future due to the risk any such move could put off people taking up employment.

Ms Robison was pressed by MSP John Mason over why the Scottish Government has chosen to mitigate the two-child cap which needs UK government co-operation and will not be rolled out from April.

He stressed that “it would seem simpler to just increase the Scottish child payment”, adding that there is “not a lot of bureaucracy in that” and SNP ministers “don’t need Westminster’s permission”.

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Ms Robison said: “There is a balance with the Scottish child payment and then whether it then becomes a cliff-edge and a barrier to work - incentivisation. We were quite thoughtful of that.

“We understand from the information we have, (that) the families most impacted by the two-child cap are the poorest families. By targeting them, we’re going to make a bigger shift on the dial on child poverty than a more general approach.”

But John Dickie, director of the Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland, has insisted both the two-child limit needs to be scrapped alongside “further substantive above inflation increases to the Scottish child payment” to “create any credible path to meeting Scotland’s child poverty targets”.

He added: “The government own analysis shows that there is no evidence the Scottish child payment is negatively affecting labour market participation at any scale.

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“We are aware of no evidence that increasing it would have any significant impact – certainly no impact that would come anywhere close to outweighing the extraordinary benefits of providing additional cash support for families, for children outcomes and for their long term ability to contribute to the Scottish economy.”

First Minister John Swinney looks on as Finance Minister Shona Robison presents the budget (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)First Minister John Swinney looks on as Finance Minister Shona Robison presents the budget (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
First Minister John Swinney looks on as Finance Minister Shona Robison presents the budget (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Ms Robison also raised remaining fears that Scotland’s public sector, which is proportionately larger than the rest of the UK’s, could be adversely hit by Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ decision to hike employer contributions of national insurance.

The Scottish Government had sought assurances from the UK government that any impact on the public sector would be fully mitigated, amid reports it could cost around £550 million a year.

But Ms Robison has confirmed that the Treasury is yet to confirm how much funding it will receive to mitigate the increase.

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She insisted “the issue is far from resolved”, adding that it was subject to “live negotiation with the Treasury”.

Ms Robison warned that the Scottish Government is “not in a position to have confirmed that we are getting a particular figure”.

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