More than 150,000 children in Scotland are missing out on a flagship Holyrood benefit despite being eligible for it, a Labour MSP has warned.
Pam Duncan-Glancy said the slow up-take of the Scottish Child Payment (SCP) was proof that some families were struggling to navigate the social security system.
The Glasgow MSP told the Record she wants to see a shift in the long-term to a different form of benefit payment which would see funds deposited in people's bank accounts automatically.
Duncan-Glancy welcomed the Scottish Government's announcement last month to increase the SCP from £20 to £25 by the end of this year.
But she added it was not enough on its own if SNP ministers were to meet their ambitious targets on reducing the number of children living in poverty.
"Experts have been saying for a couple of years now that the government must get moving if it is to meet its poverty targets," she said.
"The extra fiver added to the SCP is a good thing and we welcomed it. But it won't take effect until December - and that's a long time for people who are struggling.
"And thousands of children are not getting it anyway - either because they don't get the child payment at all, because take-up is low, or they get bridging payments which have not been doubled."
Figures show that 177,000 children are not receiving the SCP, while a further 150,000 are receiving bridging payments of £10 per week before they are moved on to the full benefit.
Duncan-Glancy, Scottish Labour's social justice spokeswoman, wants to see a radical shake-up of how benefits are delivered.
But in the short-term, she wants to see bridging payments doubled to £20 per week.
Asked why take-up is low, she said: "Ultimately, it is because the payment has not been automated.
"If you are in a situation where you are struggling to put money in the meter, or put food on the table, making an application for benefits can be hard.
"You need to know how to do it and have access to the internet - otherwise you have to travel for a face-to-face meeting, which could cost money.
"People living in poverty have to act like project managers because of the number of types of support they have to coordinate.
"Accessing everything you are entitled to can be one of the hardest things to do.
"We would, as far as possible, automate the benefits system and social security."
She added: "I honestly don't believe that in 2022 we don't have the technical capability to do it.
"If you think about how tax is calculated. Your hours go up, your tax changes.
"We can do it when the government is taking money back - so we can certainly do it when the government is giving it out.
"It's not something that can be done tomorrow - but it is something we should be starting to build."
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We would dispute any claim that Scottish Child Payment uptake is low – our most recent estimate is that, as of June last year, this game-changing benefit had been claimed for 77 per cent of eligible children.
"We have since doubled the payment, and at the end of this year we will increase it again to £25 a week as well as extending it to under-16s.
“We introduced Bridging Payments to provide immediate support to school age children from low income households, with £150 million set to be awarded to families across 2021 and 2022. More than 144,000 children were being supported through these payments as of December 2021."
The spokesman added: “While we recognise the benefits of automated payment, this would require substantial work to implement, and when designing the Scottish Child Payment we prioritised getting the payments to families as soon as possible.
"We will again assess whether it’s possible to bring in automation once the benefit has been fully rolled out.”
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