• The income threshold for Child Tax Credit will be removed.
• The income threshold for Housing Benefit will be removed.
• The income threshold for Universal Credit will be removed.

• Working Tax Credit will become a qualifying benefit in its own right.
• Deductions made from a qualifying award due to sanctions or to pay any liability will be disregarded for the purposes of BSF awards.
• An individual who has received a qualifying benefit in error or the amount they have received is £0 will not be entitled to a BSF award.
• Where an application for BSF is made by an individual no more than 10 days before they would become eligible, that application can be treated as having been made on the day on which they become eligible.
• If a BSF application was unsuccessful due to a lack of a qualifying low-income benefit or child responsibility benefit and the applicant then receives a backdated award of the low-income or child responsibility benefit that includes the date of their original BSF application, they will be able to receive BSF effective from the date of their original application.
• A new application will not be required in such circumstances.

• A pregnant person who is 18 or 19 and a dependant and who meets the residency requirements will be eligible for a BSF award without the need to receive a qualifying benefit.
• If a pregnant person who is 18 or 19 and a dependant is receiving a BSF award stops being a dependant they will continue to be eligible for a BSF award until the child is born.
• The partner of a pregnant person will be subject to the same eligibility criteria as the pregnant person.
• The person a pregnant person is dependent upon or the partner of that person who meets the residency requirements will be eligible for a BSF award. If the pregnant person stops being a dependent before the pregnancy has ended, the individual will remain eligible until the end of the pregnancy.
• Where BSF is being paid to the individual the pregnant person is dependent on or the partner of that individual and an application is received from the pregnant person and they are eligible, the pregnant person’s claim will be approved and the claim from the individual the pregnant person is dependent on or the partner of that individual will be ended.
• Where an individual responsible for a child is under 18, or 18 or 19 and a dependant, they will automatically qualify for BSF without a requirement for a qualifying benefit (as long as they meet the residency requirements).
• Where the entitled person is a child under 3, the individual responsible for that person or the partner of that individual can be paid a BSF award.
• SSS will be able to pay an appropriate person on behalf of an entitled person, and can stop that payment if they no longer feel it is appropriate to pay that person.
• SSS will be able to make an appointee on behalf of an individual who is under 16 and who is an entitled pregnant person or their partner, or an individual responsible for an entitled child under three, where there is no person who has authority to act on behalf of the individual, resides with the individual and is willing and practicably able to act on the individual’s behalf.
• Existing provisions in relation to the duties of appointees and how SSS interacts with appointees will only relate to where the appointee has been made for an individual who is 16 or over.
• The appointee made on behalf of an individual under 16 can do anything a person with parental rights and responsibilities or other authority, however arising, could do in connection with the individual’s entitlement to benefit. They may be asked to provide information that would otherwise be requested from the individual and must give any information that would otherwise be given to the individual.
• SSS will be required to consider making or terminating an appointment on behalf of an individual who is under 16 if requested to do so by the individual, a person with parental rights and responsibilities, a person who resides with and has care of the individual or any other person with an interest in the welfare or financial affairs of the individual.
• The existing rules regarding matters which must be taken into account when making or terminating an appointment on an individual’s behalf will be required to be taken into account when making or terminating an appointment on behalf of an individual who is under 16.
• When making or terminating an appointment on an individual who is under 16’s behalf the views of anyone with parental rights and responsibilities for that individual will be required to be taken into account.
• It will be possible for an existing appointee for an individual who is under 16 in relation to another Scottish Social Security to be recognised as an appointee for that individual in relation to BSF.
• The individual a pregnant person is dependent on and the partner of that individual will be eligible to receive a BSF award.

• A person in receipt of BSF who stops receiving any qualifying low-income benefit will remain entitled to BSF for a further eight weeks (at present this run-on only applies to Universal Credit).
• Individuals who are 18 or 19 and a dependant will be required to meet the usual residency requirements in order to be eligible for BSF.
• The definitions of “earned income” and “relevant income” will no longer be required and will be removed.
• The lower rate of BSF will be defined as “the basic rate”.
• The higher rate of BSF will be defined as “double the basic rate”.
• BSF can, in certain circumstances, be provided as a cash award.

The duty to report a change of circumstances is on the individual who is being paid BSF on behalf of the entitled person, or the on the entitled person if no individual is being paid on their behalf.