Overview
- The Scottish Child Payment will rise to £40 a week for under‑ones from next year, with the benefit then uprated by inflation and £49 million earmarked for new anti‑poverty actions.
- Basic and intermediate income‑tax thresholds will increase by 7.4%, giving limited relief to lower earners while higher earners continue to face larger bills than in the rest of the UK.
- Health and social care will receive a record £22.5 billion in 2026‑27, including £17.6 billion for NHS boards and £36 million to expand walk‑in GP clinics.
- Two new council tax bands for homes worth over £1 million are planned from April 2028 and a private jet tax is slated after April 2027, with breakfast clubs pledged in every primary school by August 2027.
- Opposition parties and economists flagged constrained finances and a near £5 billion funding gap by the decade’s end, noting several flagship measures are delayed and day‑to‑day spending cuts arrive sooner.