Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
FOI Reference: FOI/202500461350
Date received: 9 April 2025
Date responded: 1 May 2025
Information requested
Request for information 1: The number of applicants currently in receipt of Scottish Child Payment (SCP) who receive this payment for four eligible children.
Request for information 2: The number of applicants currently in receipt of SCP who receive this payment for five eligible children.
Request for information 3: The number of applicants currently in receipt of SCP who receive this payment for six eligible children.
Request for information 4: The number of applicants currently in receipt of SCP who receive this payment for seven eligible children.
Request for information 5: The number of applicants currently in receipt of SCP who receive this payment for eight eligible children.
Request for information 6: The number of applicants currently in receipt of SCP who receive this payment for nine eligible children.
Request for information 7: The number of applicants currently in receipt of SCP who receive this payment for ten or more eligible children.
Request for information 8: The highest number of individual children for which an applicant is currently paid Scottish Child Payment.
Request for information 9: The highest total amount which was paid to a single applicant, for all of the “Five Family Payments” offered by the Scottish Government, for 2024-25.
Response
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Social Security Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested. The required analysis up to the date of your request has not been undertaken.
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Social Security Scotland does not have the information you have requested.
In order to assist you, we can provide the requested information as of 31 December 2024:
Request for information 1: 6,211
Request for information 2: 1,511
Request for information 3: 377
Request for information 4: 108
Request for information 5: 30
Request for information 6: 17
Request for information 7: 7
Request for information 8:
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Social Security Scotland cannot release the information you have requested.
An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to all of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, i.e. the number of eligible children the parent or carer is in receipt of Scottish Child Payment (SCP) for, and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018.
This exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.
Request for information 9: The highest amount paid to a parent or carer for Best Start Grant, Best Start Foods, and Scottish Child Payment between 1 April 2024 and 31 December 2024 was £12,491.75. Further information on the 5 Family Payments can be found at the following link:
Social Security Scotland - 5 Family Payments factsheet - English
About FOI
Social Security Scotland is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. The Scottish Government also publishes responses to requests. You can view the responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.