Scottish Government confirms launch date for new Child Disability Payment in pilot areas

2 mins read

Thursday 25 March 2021

Tags: scotland, benefits

The Scottish Government has confirmed that the Child Disability Payment, a new benefit replacing Disability Living Allowance (DLA) in Scotland, will be launched on the 26 July in three pilot areas. These areas are: Dundee City, Perth and Kinross and Western Isles.

If you live in one of these areas you will not be able to make a new claim for Disability Living Allowance on or after 26 July 2021. Instead, you will need to claim the new Child Disability Payment from Social Security Scotland.

Applications for the new benefit can be made online or by post, phone, or face to face.

Once the pilot in these three areas has completed, the new benefit is then expected to be rolled out across the rest of Scotland in Autumn 2021.

Initially the Child Disability Payment is only replacing new claims for Disability Living Allowance. Children in Scotland who are already getting Disability Living Allowance won’t be transferred onto the new Child Disability Payment until later, a process that is expected to happen in stages.

The Scottish government have now also confirmed that once transfers start, families who currently get DLA for a child will have their awards moved over automatically to the new Scottish benefit, with no change in their payment rates or payment dates.

The new benefit is very similar to DLA, with both a care and mobility component. However, it can be paid until the age of 18 rather than 16.

Find out more about the Scottish Child Payment and other benefits in Scotland on our webpage Welfare benefits in Scotland.