Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods Payment

Best Start Grant is 3 cash payments. Each payment can only be paid once per child.

You can get Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods:

  • If your child is the right age for a payment
  • Whether you’re in work or not, as long as you’re on certain payments or benefits
  • As long as you’re the parent of a child, or the main person looking after a child

The 3 Best Start Grant payments are:

1. Pregnancy and Baby Payment

The Pregnancy and Baby Payment is a grant that has been launched by Social Security Scotland to help families with the cost of having children.

The grant, which can be applied for after the 24th week of pregnancy or before the child reaches the age of 6 months can be paid to the parents or carers of a baby.

The Pregnancy and Baby Payment provides most eligible families with £606 on the birth of their first child and £303 on the birth of any subsequent children. If you have a multiple birth, you will receive one extra payment of £303, called the multiple birth supplement.

2. Early Learning Payment

The Best Start Grant Early Learning Payment is a new £252.50 payment to help with the costs of early leaning when a child is between 2 and 3 ½ years old.

You can spend this money on any of the things you need for your child at this age.

3. School Age Payment

The Best Start Grant School Age Payment is a new £252.50 payment to help with the costs of preparing for school when a child is first old enough to start Primary school.

Eligibility is based on the age of the child. The application window is from the first of June in the year that the child is first old enough to start school until the last day in February of the following year. 

Parents and carers of children who do not start school, or who defer starting until the following year, should still apply during this window. 

How to Apply:

From 28th November 2022, the Best Start Grant Early Learning Payment and School Age Payment will be awarded automatically to eligible families in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment, without the need to apply. 

Otherwise, you can apply by:

  • completing an online application form on www.mygov.scot/benefits
  • filling in a paper form - you can get a paper form on www.mygov.scot/benefits.  You can also ask for a paper form with a prepaid envelope by phone
  • phone, by calling Social Security Scotland free on 0800 182 2222, Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm.

For further information regarding the Best Start Grant please visit Social Security Scotland website. The link can be found under our "Other Websites" section of this page.