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Children's Handbook Scotland | 2024/25

Chapter 6: Children who are ‘looked after and accommodated’
Your benefit and tax credit entitlement changes if your child is no longer living with you because they are ‘looked after and accommodated’ under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 or the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 – eg, they go to stay in a residential unit or secure accommodation, or they have been placed with foster carers. You may have agreed to this or it may be because of a legal order such as a compulsory supervision order. In this chapter, we use the term ‘looked after and accommodated’ to describe this situation. Sometimes this may be referred to as ‘looked after away from home’.
The information in this chapter does not apply if the residential accommodation has been provided solely:
    because of the child’s disability; or
    because the child’s health would be significantly impaired if the accommodation were not provided.
If this is the case, see Chapter 4 instead.