Scottish Budget 2026 Includes Increase in Child Payments, 'Step in the Right Direction' Says Single Mother

The Scottish government has unveiled its draft 2026–2027 budget, including a rise in child payments for low‑income families. The move was praised as a 'step in the right direction' by one single mother, who stressed that more support is still needed to close Scotland's poverty gap.

On Tuesday, finance minister Shona Robison presented the SNP administration's tax and spending plans at Holyrood, in what will be her final budget before standing down as an MSP at the May elections. She said the package is designed to bolster the NHS, help hard‑pressed households, and invest in infrastructure, calling it 'a budget for families' and 'a budget well worth voting for'.

Increase in Child Payments

Robison framed the plans as a package to boost the NHS, ease the cost of living, and support families. 'This is a budget for a stronger NHS, a budget for a more prosperous Scotland, a budget that, once again, gives the people of Scotland the best cost of living deal anywhere in the UK,' said Robison in her remarks.

'It is a budget that offers new ways to access a GP with walk-in GP clinics, new help for hard-pressed families with more wraparound care, new hope for young Scots looking for their first home, more operations, more appointments in our NHS, more people paying less income tax because they live here in Scotland.'

'New help and more help – it's a budget for families, a budget for Scotland, and a budget well worth voting for,' Robison added.

Under the proposed budget, the Scottish Child Payment will rise next year to £40 per week for families with children under one, up from the current £27.15 rate. Robison said the benefit, which is available to qualifying parents with children under 16, will also be uprated by inflation in the coming fiscal year.

Charities, including Save the Children and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, welcomed the boost.

'This is a moment of hope for families and for all of us,' said Save the Children head of Scotland, Claire Telfer. 'Investing in the tiniest members of our society – alongside the other commitments made to tackle child poverty is how we sow the seeds of a brighter tomorrow.'

Joseph Rowntree Foundation associate director Chris Birt said the increase should help address the 'shocking' reality that more than a third of babies in Scotland live in households in poverty, but warned that the rest of the anti‑poverty funding in the budget lacks detail and 'doesn't meet the scale of action required'.

Reactions From Parents and Campaigners

Single mother Angie Bird, who completed a law degree while raising two children, also praised the higher child payment while warning that families with older children remain under pressure. Bird, a campaigner with Poverty Alliance and Save the Children, said the extra support will be particularly helpful for new parents but called it only 'a step in the right direction'.

'We've got to keep pushing on and doing more,' Angie Bird told The Independent. Bird said that many families claim that the benefit is working, yet noted that this should not be perceived as a 'handout.'

'I've completed my degree but can't afford to qualify as a solicitor,' Bird added. 'I just hope that having a degree will get a step up. For three years I did a full-time Open University course. I do get the Scottish child payment and I think it is really useful.'