Shirley-Anne Somerville

This new benefit will be available across Scotland from autumn 2021.

Child Disability Payment will replace Disability Living Allowance for Children, which is currently delivered through the Department for Work and Pensions.

This new support is there for families applying for disability assistance for the first time. Families currently getting Disability Living Allowance for Children from the Department for Work and Pensions will start to be transferred to the new Scottish system from 2021.

This is the second form of disability assistance to be delivered under the new Scottish social security system following the introduction of Child Winter Heating Assistance in November 2020.

Child Disability Payment is the first disability benefit to be introduced that will require people to submit an application. People will be able to apply for this payment by post, phone, online and face to face. This is the first time in Scotland that people will be able to apply for a disability benefit online.

To coincide with the introduction of Child Disability Payment, the Scottish Government has also announced it will launch its local delivery service. This means that from autumn 2021, when Child Disability payment is available for new applications across the country, people will be able to get advice and support on 11 Social Security Scotland administered benefits face-to-face at a location in their local community.

Shirley-Anne Somerville, social security secretary, said: “Next year will be an important one for social security in Scotland as we start to deliver the more complex disability benefits and we see the introduction of face-to-face services.

“We’ve worked with people who will use this service to make sure it will meet their needs. This is what has led to make improvements like the introduction of an online application option and the availability of advice and support in local communities. This influence isn’t only evident in these big decisions, we’ve worked with people right down to details like how we word questions on our applications forms.

“Through building this system with the people who will use it, we hope to have a service that is as straightforward as possible for families to use. Parents and carers of a child who has a disability or long term health condition already experience a number of challenges and accessing the support that they are entitled to shouldn’t be another one.

“This initial pilot is a further chance to get people’s feedback and we look forward to hearing what our first disability benefit applicants have to say. We will continually invite input and adapt accordingly - this is key to making sure that we deliver the best possible service and that we have a system that treats everyone with dignity, fairness and respect.”