Rates and figures changelog

How to read this page

What has changed

40 figures have moved while we have tracked them, most recently checked first. Annual uprating lands in April, the SAAS package in spring, exam dates as Qualifications Scotland publishes them.

• Best start early learning

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £331.95, was £319.80.

  Source: mygov.scot — Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods

• Best start school age

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £331.95, was £319.80.

  Source: mygov.scot — Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods

• Carer additional person payment weekly

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £10.40, was £10.38.

  Source: mygov.scot — Carer Support Payment

• Carer support payment earnings limit weekly

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £204, was £151.

  Source: mygov.scot — Carer Support Payment: if you work

• CDP care enhanced weekly

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £114.60, was £108.55.

  Source: mygov.scot — Child Disability Payment

• CDP care middle weekly

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £76.70, was £43.60.

  Source: mygov.scot — Child Disability Payment

• CDP mobility enhanced weekly

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £80, was £75.75.

  Source: mygov.scot — Child Disability Payment

• CDP mobility standard weekly

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £30.30, was £29.

  Source: mygov.scot — Child Disability Payment

• Child benefit additional child

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £17.90, was £17.25.

  Source: GOV.UK — Child Benefit: what you'll get

• Child benefit first child

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £27.05, was £26.05.

  Source: GOV.UK — Child Benefit: what you'll get

• England tuition cap

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £9,790, was £9,535 and before that £9,250.

  Source: GOV.UK — Changes to tuition fees: 2026 to 2027 academic year

• Free school meals UC earnings threshold

  2026/27 (from 1 April 2026) · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £995, was £796.

  Source: mygov.scot — Free school meals

• Healthy start pregnancy weekly

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £4.65, was £4.25.

  Source: NHS Healthy Start — scheme rules

• Healthy start under one weekly

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £9.30, was £8.50.

  Source: NHS Healthy Start — scheme rules

• Hutchesons secondary fee annual

  2026/27 (S3–S6), including VAT · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £20,395, was £19,995.

  Source: Hutchesons' Grammar School — Fees 2026–2027 (PDF)

• Maternity allowance weekly

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £194.32, was £187.18.

  Source: GOV.UK — Maternity pay and leave

• National living wage

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £12.71, was £12.21.

  Source: GOV.UK — National Minimum Wage rates

• NHS AfC band 5 min

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £34,544, was £33,247.

  Source: NHS Scotland pay circular PCS(AFC)2026/1 — Annex B pay scales

• NHS AfC band 6 max

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £52,679, was £50,702.

  Source: NHS Scotland pay circular PCS(AFC)2026/1 — Annex B pay scales

• NHS AfC band 6 min

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £43,231, was £41,608.

  Source: NHS Scotland pay circular PCS(AFC)2026/1 — Annex B pay scales

• NHS AfC band 7 max

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £61,466, was £59,159.

  Source: NHS Scotland pay circular PCS(AFC)2026/1 — Annex B pay scales

• NHS AfC band 7 min

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £52,845, was £50,861.

  Source: NHS Scotland pay circular PCS(AFC)2026/1 — Annex B pay scales

• NMW apprentice

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £8, was £7.55.

  Source: GOV.UK — National Minimum Wage rates

• Plan 2 threshold

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £29,385, was £28,470.

  Source: GOV.UK — Repaying your student loan: what you pay

• Plan 2 threshold monthly

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £2,448, was £2,449.

  Source: GOV.UK — Repaying your student loan: what you pay

• Plan 4 threshold

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £33,795, was £32,745 and before that £31,395.

  Source: GOV.UK — Repaying your student loan: what you pay

• Real living wage

  2026-27 rate (announced 15 October 2026; accredited employers implement by 1 May 2027) · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £14.10, was £13.45.

  Source: Living Wage Foundation — real Living Wage

• SAAS base loan

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £8,400, was £6,400.

  Source: SAAS — Student Funding: Key Facts (2026-27 bands; PDF created 23 March 2026)

• SAAS lone parents grant

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £1,305, was £1,335.

  Source: SAAS — Student Funding: Lone Parents' Grant quick guide (PDF)

• SAAS young loan max

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £9,400, was £7,400.

  Source: SAAS — Student Funding: Key Facts (2026-27 bands; PDF created 23 March 2026)

• Scis independent pupils

  2025 SCIS census · checked 1 November 2026

  Now 25919 pupils, was 27781 pupils and before that 28876 pupils.

  Source: SCIS — Facts & Figures

• Scottish child payment weekly

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £28.20, was £27.15 and before that £26.70.

  Source: mygov.scot — Scottish Child Payment

• Sfe maintenance loan away London

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £14,135, was £13,762.

  Source: GOV.UK — Student finance for new full-time students (2026 to 2027)

• Statutory sick pay weekly

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £123.25, was £116.75.

  Source: GOV.UK — Statutory Sick Pay: what you'll get

• Teacher main grade max

  from 1 August 2026 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £54,453, was £52,614 and before that £52,740.

  Source: Teach in Scotland — Teaching pay scales in Scotland

• Teacher main grade min

  from 1 August 2026 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £43,383, was £41,916 and before that £42,018.

  Source: Teach in Scotland — Teaching pay scales in Scotland

• Teacher probationer salary

  from 1 August 2026 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £36,159, was £34,938 and before that £35,022.

  Source: Teach in Scotland — Teaching pay scales in Scotland

• UC carer element monthly

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £209.34, was £185.86.

  Source: GOV.UK — Universal Credit: what you'll get

• UC childcare cap two plus

  2026/27 · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £1,836.16, was £1,863.16.

  Source: GOV.UK — Universal Credit childcare costs

• Watsons senior fee annual

  2026/27, including VAT · checked 1 November 2026

  Now £20,351, was £19,991.

  Source: George Watson's College — Fees

Every figure we track

All 140 registered figures, most recently checked first.

Figures we compute rather than check

Some numbers a guide needs are arithmetic over the figures above: an annual total from a weekly rate, a four-year tuition bill from a yearly fee. These 39 are never typed by hand and never checked against a source, because there is no source to check. They change when the figures they are built from change.

• Real living wage gap over apprentice hourly — £6.10realLivingWage − nmwApprentice
• Real living wage gap over apprentice weekly 37 h — £225.70(realLivingWage − nmwApprentice) × 37 hours
• Coram Scot nursery under two annual — £12,955coramScotNurseryUnderTwo50h × 50 weeks
• Coram eng nursery under two with entitlement annual — £7,441coramEngNurseryUnderTwo50hWithEntitlement × 50 weeks
• Coram under two Scotland England annual gap — £5,514(coramScotNurseryUnderTwo50h − coramEngNurseryUnderTwo50hWithEntitlement) × 50 weeks, each side rounded as rendered
• Coram Scot nursery two annual — £12,984coramScotNurseryTwo50h × 50 weeks
• Clothing grant minimum both stages — £270clothingGrantMinimumPrimary + clothingGrantMinimumSecondary (one primary and one secondary pupil, in a council paying the statutory floor)
• UC childcare cap two plus annual — £22,034ucChildcareCapTwoPlus × 12 assessment periods
• Coram Scot nursery under two net of TFC — £10,955coramScotNurseryUnderTwoAnnual − taxFreeChildcareAnnualCap (a full-time under-2 place, 50 weeks, with the maximum Tax-Free Childcare top-up)
• TFC min quarterly earnings 21 plus — £2,643.68nationalLivingWage × 16 hours × 13 weeks (the Tax-Free Childcare and England 30-hours minimum-earnings test, aged 21+)
• England funded hours min weekly earnings 21 plus — £203.36nationalLivingWage × 16 hours (England working-parent childcare minimum earnings, aged 21+)
• Scottish tuition annual saving vs England — £7,970englandTuitionCap − saasTuitionFee (fee an English university charges minus the fee SAAS pays a Scottish one)
• Clothing grant minimum career total — £1,740clothingGrantMinimumPrimary × 7 (P1–P7) + clothingGrantMinimumSecondary × 6 (S1–S6)
• Best start school age plus primary clothing minimum — £451.95bestStartSchoolAge + clothingGrantMinimumPrimary (what an eligible family gets in the P1 year at the national minimum)
• England tuition three year total — £29,370englandTuitionCap × 3 (a standard three-year English degree)
• Scottish child payment four weekly — £112.80scottishChildPaymentWeekly × 4
• Scottish child payment annual — £1,466round(scottishChildPaymentWeekly × 52)
• Scottish child payment annual two children — £2,933round(scottishChildPaymentWeekly × 52 × 2)
• Scottish child payment annual three children — £4,399round(scottishChildPaymentWeekly × 52 × 3)
• Scottish child payment sixteen year total — £23,462round(scottishChildPaymentWeekly × 52 × 16)
• Scottish child payment two child sixteen year total — £46,925round(scottishChildPaymentWeekly × 52 × 16 × 2)
• Best start grant first child total — £1,460.55bestStartPregnancyBabyFirstChild + bestStartEarlyLearning + bestStartSchoolAge
• Best start grant two children total — £2,522.80bestStartPregnancyBabyFirstChild + bestStartPregnancyBabySubsequentChild + (bestStartEarlyLearning + bestStartSchoolAge) × 2
• Best start foods per child to three — £1,164.80bestStartFoodsBirthToOne × 13 (year one) + bestStartFoodsPregnancyAndToddler × 26 (ages 1–3)
• England tuition four year total — £39,160englandTuitionCap × 4 (a standard four-year Scottish degree)
• EMA annual term time — £1,140emaWeekly × 38 term-time weeks
• EMA fortnightly — £60emaWeekly × 2
• EMA two year total — £2,280emaWeekly × 38 term-time weeks × 2 years (S5 and S6)
• SAAS young package mid — £10,525saasYoungBursaryMid + saasYoungLoanMax (young student, household income £21,000–£23,999)
• SAAS young package low — £9,900saasYoungBursaryLow + saasYoungLoanMax (young student, household income £24,000–£33,999)
• SAAS care experienced package — £11,400saasCareExperiencedBursary + saasCareExperiencedLoan
• SAAS base loan four year total — £33,600saasBaseLoan × 4 (maximum borrowed over a four-year degree at household income £34,000+)
• SAAS young loan four year total — £37,600saasYoungLoanMax × 4 (maximum a young student below £34,000 can borrow over four years)
• SAAS tuition four year total — £7,280saasTuitionFee × 4 (a standard four-year Scottish degree)
• Plan 4 plan 5 threshold gap — £8,795plan4Threshold − plan5Threshold
• Scotland family support two child total — £93,217Sum of the registered rows in the Scotland-vs-England worked example: scottishChildPaymentTwoChildSixteenYearTotal + bestStartGrantTwoChildrenTotal + bestStartFoodsPerChildToThree × 2 + englandTuitionFourYearTotal + emaTwoYearTotal
• Scotland family support per child total — £26,088scottishChildPaymentSixteenYearTotal + bestStartGrantFirstChildTotal + bestStartFoodsPerChildToThree
• Scotland family support two child net gap — £91,217scotlandFamilySupportTwoChildTotal − £2000 (the TOP of the guide's stated £1,500–£2,000 England-equivalent range)
• Private school six year at heriots — £125,466heriotsSeniorFeeAnnual × 6 (S1–S6)