Double claims for Scottish Child Payment

There can only be one award of Scottish Child Payment per child at any one time.

Use the following guidance if you receive an application and the child is already named on different client’s Scottish Child Payment, and both applicants meet the eligibility conditions on:

• residency
• qualifying benefit
• child responsibility

Evidence hierarchy

Scottish Child Payment should be awarded to the person who is mainly responsible for the child.

The following hierarchy shows how you should consider evidence when deciding who is mainly responsible for the child.

Category 1: The child is named on the applicant’s Universal Credit, Child Tax Credit or Pension Credit, or the applicant has evidence that they are the child’s kinship carer.

Category 2: The applicant has an award of Child Benefit for the child.

If only one applicant has evidence for category 1, you should award Scottish Child Payment to that applicant.

If neither applicant has evidence for category 1, but one applicant has evidence from category 2, you should award Scottish Child Payment to that applicant.

If two applicants meet the eligibility conditions and both provide evidence from the same category on the hierarchy, you should request further evidence from both applicants. This is in order to determine who is mainly responsible for the child.

Send each applicant a Request Evidence letter letting them know that we have received multiple applications for the same child and require further information.

We are looking to understand who has main responsibility for the child. Below are some examples of documents the applicant could send to us to help us establish this.

Be aware that a recent legal document, such as a Compulsory Supervision Order or a residence order from the court, is likely to be provide stronger evidence of child responsibility than some of the other documents on this list.

• meeting minutes from a Children’s Hearing, which include details of the court-ordered residence of the child
• a letter provided by a social worker to confirm the child’s residence, including full address, name of child, name of parent and date child has been resident there since
• screenshot of an email from a social worker (showing the above information)
• proof of kinship care payments for the child from a local authority to the applicant
• residence order from the court
• a letter from the child’s school or nursery addressed to the applicant
• a letter from the child’s healthcare provider sent to the applicant’s address

This is not an exhaustive list and we will consider other evidence that the applicant may feel is relevant or helpful.

When both applicants have returned evidence or the time limit [with consideration to the applicants’ circumstances] has passed, review each applicant’s evidence and make a determination on who is mainly responsible for the child. You should take into consideration any change of circumstances that may have occurred during this process.

If neither has submitted evidence or both have provided strong evidence, the case can be escalated to the Team Support Officer.

The Decision Support Team can also provide extra support.