£29.7 million paid out since the launch of Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods

New figures have been published on Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods. In total, we paid £29.7 million to clients up to 31 May 2020.

During this period we received just under 160,000 applications for Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods. It is estimated that 40% of these were for Best Start Foods, 38% for Pregnancy and Baby Payment, 33% for Early Learning Payment and 17% for School Age Payment. The full report can be accessed on the Scottish Government website.

The Best Start Grant includes three types of payment: Pregnancy and Baby Payment (applications taken from 10 December 2018), Early Learning Payment (applications taken from 29 April 2019) and School Age Payment (applications taken from 3 June 2019).

Best Start Foods is a payment that replaces the UK Government’s Healthy Start Vouchers in Scotland. Best Start Foods replaced Healthy Start Vouchers for new claims in Scotland from 12 August 2019. This was a phased roll out and we contacted people asking them to make the switch to Best Start Foods.

Stakeholders can access more information and resources on Best Start Grant or Best Start Foods. People can check eligibility and apply for these benefits on the mygov.scot website.