Child responsibility status for Scottish Child Payment

The client or their partner must have responsibility for the child or children that they’ve named on their application. 

We can confirm responsibility for a child through the child, or children, being named on any of the child responsibility benefits listed below:

• Child Tax Credit
• Child Benefit
• Pension Credit
• Universal Credit

The client may not have a responsibility benefit for the child but they are a kinship carer. They can still meet the conditions by showing evidence of their kinship carer status. 

Kinship care

In a kinship care situation, a child lives full-time or most of the time with: 

• a relative  
• friend of the child or their family

This is because they are not able to live with their parents.  

For example, a child moves to live with a grandparent because their mum or dad is ill or having problems with drugs or alcohol. Kinship carers can be any age over 18. 

They can find further information on kinship care, including more detail of the evidence requirements here. 

They can use the following to show that they’re a kinship carer: 

• a kinship care order 
• a section 11 order 
• a letter from a solicitor or local council confirming that they have one of the orders above

The local council may be outside of Scotland.  

If they’re using a legal kinship care order as evidence this must be: 

• a Residence Order which states the child shall live with the carer 
• a section 11 Order giving them or their partner the right to have the child living with them  
• a section 11 Order appointing them or their partner as the child’s guardian 
• a similar Order evidencing kinship care recognised in Scotland that was made by courts outside Scotland