From Scottish Child Payment and the Labour Market – update 2026 published today but utterly absent from BBC Scotland News, Main, Politics or Business, the above, and::

SCP is most likely to affect labour market decisions among parents of young children whose entitlement depends on continued receipt of Universal Credit. The Planning for Work conditionality regime predominantly covers lone parents or lead carers of young children who are expected to move towards work in future as their children grow older, and are therefore a group likely to be exposed to labour market incentives. If SCP was leading parents to reduce work participation in order to maintain benefit eligibility, this might be reflected in lower rates of employment among this group compared with other parts of the UK.

There has been a persistent, though variable, gap between Scotland and England, with claimants in this conditionality group consistently more likely to be in employment in Scotland. There is no clear evidence of a labour market impact associated with SCP; indeed employment rose relative to England in the period following the extension to 6-15 year olds.  https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-child-payment-labour-market-update-2026/pages/4/

Isn’t this bloody good news? Don’t we deserve the public service broadcaster, we pay for, telling us about it? They bloody haven’t and bloody will not.

I’m not a bloody academic any more, constrained by pathetic politeness any more, so I’ll say it as I see it. They should be bloody ashamed. The bloody little creeps!