Happy 40th Birthday to Child Benefit

That the Parliament celebrates the 40th birthday of child benefit, which was introduced in April 1979; believes that child benefit is one of Scotland’s most crucial social security payments, supporting 600,000 families and 900,000 children; welcomes that awareness of this benefit among eligible families is very high, with around 95% take-up; believes that this provides important lessons to the new Scottish social security system regarding how to make eligible families aware of their social security rights; agrees that a child benefit top-up should be used to boost the incomes of poorer families until the Scottish Income Supplement is ready; notes with regret that the actions of UK administrations mean that the value of child benefit has, it understands, fallen by £210 for a one-child family and £350 for a two-child family since 2009-10; welcomes the work of the Resolution Foundation in highlighting the importance of child benefit, and thanks all those who are involved in administering and helping families to access it.