1. Best Start grants
If you are pregnant or have a young child, you may be entitled to a Best Start grant. There are three separate one-off payments available.1The Early Years Assistance (Best Start Grants) (Scotland) Regulations 2018, No.370 These are: •a pregnancy and baby payment of £606 if it is your first child, or £303 for a second or subsequent child. You can apply from the 24th week of pregnancy until six months after the baby is born (applications will still be considered if you could not apply in time due to coronavirus pandemic);
•an early learning payment of £252.50 if you have a child aged between two and three-and-a-half years old (applications will still be considered if you could not apply in time due to coronavirus pandemic);
•a school age payment of £252.50 in the year your child would normally start school.
You are eligible for these payments if you are under 18 (applications will still be considered if you could not apply in time due to coronavirus pandemic) or get a qualifying benefit. You are also eligible if you are 18 or 19 and someone else claims child benefit, universal credit (UC), child tax credit (CTC) or pension credit (PC) for you. There are no special rules for students. Qualifying benefits are:
•UC (including if you got UC in the last month and it has now stopped);
•income support;
•income-based jobseeker’s allowance;
•income-related employment and support allowance;
•PC;
•housing benefit;
•CTC;
•working tax credit.
See for more details. You can apply online, by phone on 0800 182 2222 or by downloading a paper form. Go to for more information or to start an application.