East Kilbride MSP hails £7m government support for over 17,000 South Lanarkshire children

dailyrecord.co.uk:

New figures have revealed 17,835 children in South Lanarkshire are being supported by the Best Start Foods and Best Start Grant benefits - with payments of over £7million made to families.Since the introduction of the Scottish Government's Best Start Grant in 2018 and of Best Start Foods 2019, £130 million has been paid in support for pregnancy and the early years of raising a family, equating to 1.7 million payments.These payments are part of the five key benefits that families may be entitled to from Social Security Scotland – the Best Start Grant is comprised of three one-off payments and Best Start Foods is a prepaid card which can be used to buy healthy foods.The Lanarkshire Live app is available to download now.

Get all the news from your area – as well as features, entertainment, sport and the latest on Lanarkshire’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic – straight to your fingertips, 24/7.The free download features the latest breaking news and exclusive stories, and allows you to customise your page to the sections that matter most to you.Head to the App Store and never miss a beat in Lanarkshire - iOS - Android Families who qualify for the Scottish Child Payment are now automatically awarded Best Start Grant Early Learning and School Age Payments when their child becomes eligible – from November 2022 until June 2023 14,825 Early Learning Payments and 23,810 School Age Payments were made.In the first six months of this year, payments worth £7,271,679 has been made to families across South Lanarkshire.In neighbouring North Lanarkshire 23,635 children are benefitting from the support.Welcoming the figures, Collette Stevenson, MSP for East Kilbride, said: “The Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods payments provide