Child Winter Heating Assistance is a new benefit from the Scottish Government. It's a payment of £235.70 for children and young people up to the age of 18.

If there is more than one child or young person in your household who qualifies, they will all get the payment.

You are not required to show receipts or proof of how the money is spent.

To get the payment, the following criteria must be met on at least one day in the 3rd full week of September (called the "qualifying week").

On that day they must be in receipt of:

  • the highest rate of the care component of Child Disability Payment
  • the highest rate of the care component of Disability Living Allowance for children
  • the enhanced daily living rate of Personal Independence Payment
  • and live in Scotland

If a child or young person did not live in Scotland during the qualifying week, they might still get the payment if they:

If the child no longer lives in Scotland

You might be able to get Child Winter Heating Assistance if the child or young person no longer lives in Scotland, but lives in Switzerland or a European Economic Area (EEA) country.

They must still have got the highest rate care component of Disability Living Allowance for children on at least one day of the qualifying week.

You'll need to show that the child or young person has a link to Scotland, for example that they, or their parent or guardian, have spent a significant part of their life in Scotland.

You'll need to complete an application form with information about the child and parent or guardian. An application form will be available shortly from mygov.scot.

Applying for Child Winter Heating Assistance

You do not need to apply for the payment if the child currently lives in Scotland.

If the child or young person is eligible, you'll be paid automatically into the same account that your Disability Living Allowance for children is paid into. Social Security Scotland will write to you before the payment is made.

If this was because the child or young person was staying in residential care, you will still get Child Winter Heating Assistance. This payment will be made automatically.

How to contact Social Secuirty Scotland

If you're a British Sign Language (BSL) user, you can use the contactSCOTLAND app to contact Social Security Scotland by video relay.