Nicola Sturgeon to announce cost-of-living plan as Child Payment rise set to be rolled out within weeks

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Around 400,000 Scots children will be able to receive a lifeline £25 a week benefit in November.Nicola Sturgeon ’s Government will today confirm a rise in the Scottish Child Payment in response to a “humanitarian crisis” caused by soaring energy bills.

But Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: “The people of Scotland are facing the greatest cost of living crisis in living memory, with thousands facing fuel poverty and hunger this winter.

But faced with the scale of this crisis, the best that this SNP-Green government can do is trail social security policies that it announced months and months ago.”The SCP currently provides £20 a week for children under 6 in low income families.

Sturgeon previously said the payment would be extended to eligible under 16s by the end of the year and increased to £25.In her Programme for Government announcement, in which she will lay out her legislative plans for the next year, she will confirm the roll out will start on November 14th.The higher payment will be given to families weeks after energy bills are planned to rise by 80%, plunging millions of people into poverty.She will say: “The Scottish Child Payment is unique to Scotland, the most ambitious child poverty reduction measure in the UK and an important action to mitigate the growing cost emergency.“We doubled the payment to £20 per week per child in April and the further increase to £25 from November means a rise of 150% in less than eight months.“Around 104,000 children currently in receipt of Scottish Child Payment will have it automatically increased to £25 per week.