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Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods

Who should apply

Last updated
26 Feb 2024

You may be able to get Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods if you or your partner meet all these conditions:

  • live in Scotland
  • are pregnant or have a child who’s the right age for a payment
  • are the main person looking after the child
  • get certain benefits or payments

Benefits or payments you need to get

To get Best Start Grant and Foods, normally you or your partner need to get one of these:

  • Universal Credit
  • Child Tax Credit
  • Working Tax Credit
  • Housing Benefit
  • Income Support
  • Pension Credit
  • income-based Jobseekers Allowance (JSA)
  • income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)

If you’re under 20 years old and do not get one of these payments, you may still be able to get Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods. Read about this below.

If you're not getting any of these benefits or payments, but have applied for one, you can still apply for Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods.

Child Benefit on its own is not an accepted benefit for Best Start Grant or Best Start Foods. You must get one of the benefits from this list.

You may be able to get Best Start Grant or Best Start Foods if you get a benefit from a European Economic Area (EEA) country or Switzerland. Contact Social Security Scotland for more information.

If you're under 18

If you're under 18, you do not need to be on any payments or benefits to get Best Start Grant or Best Start Foods.

Early Learning Payment or School Age Payment

If you're applying for the Early Learning Payment or the School Age Payment, you must apply yourself.

Pregnancy and Baby Payment and Best Start Foods

You can apply for the Pregnancy and Baby Payment and Best Start Foods yourself.

Someone else can apply for you as long as they are getting any of these for you:

  • Child Benefit
  • Child Tax Credit
  • Universal Credit child payments
  • the child addition part of Pension Credit

They can also apply for you if they or their partner are your kinship carer.

If your parent or carer applies, they'll need to call Social Security Scotland free on 0800 182 2222. The opening times are Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. They can also download and fill in the paper form. They cannot apply online.

If you're 18 or 19 and do not get benefits

If you're 18 or 19 and do not get any benefits or payments, you can still apply for Best Start Grant or Best Start Foods. Your parent or carer needs to get one of these for you:

  • Child Tax Credit
  • Child Benefit
  • Universal Credit child payments
  • the child addition part of Pension Credit

When you apply, you’ll need to enter your parent or carer’s details in the form.

For Pregnancy and Baby Payment and Best Start Foods, your parent or carer (or their partner) can apply instead of you.

To apply, you'll need to call Social Security free on 0800 182 2222. The opening times are Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. You can also download and fill in the paper form. You cannot apply online. 

How to confirm you're the main person looking after a child

 

You can apply if you’re the main person looking after a child, such as if you’re:

  • the child’s parent or grandparent
  • the child’s legal guardian
  • the child’s kinship carer
  • living with the parent, guardian or kinship carer and both of you are a couple, married or civil partners

Kinship care is when a child is looked after by their extended family or close friends, if they cannot remain with their birth parents.

If you’re a kinship carer you can also show you’re the main person looking after the child if you have a letter from your local council.

If the child’s been placed with you by an adoption agency, you can show you’re the main person looking after the child if you have information from the adoption agency.

To show you're the main person looking after a child, the child must be named on either you or your partner's claim for one of these benefits:

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

If the child is not named on one of these benefits, you can show you’re the main person looking after the child if you have one of these legal orders:

  • a Guardianship Order
  • a Parental Order
  • an Adoption Order
  • a Kinship Care Order
  • a Residence Order

If you’re waiting for a legal order, you need to wait until you have it to apply.

If you’re aged under 20

You do not need any benefits or legal orders to show you’re the main person looking after the child if you meet all these conditions:

  • you’re aged under 20
  • you’re the child’s parent
  • you normally live with the child
  • your parent or carer gets one of the listed benefits for you or is your kinship carer

If you look after someone who’s under 20 and they’re either pregnant or a young parent

You can apply for Pregnancy and Baby Payment or Best Start Foods if the person is named on your or your partner’s claim for:

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

If you or your partner are kinship carers for the young person, you need to have something to show you look after them. This can be either:

  • a letter from your local council
  • a copy of a legal order
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