Edinburgh task force driving change for the gig economy

The City of Edinburgh Council has pledged its support to Edinburgh’s vital gig economy workforce, a significant and growing aspect of the city’s labour market.

It comes as the City looks to promote better access to fair work standards for people following a series of discussions with workers, trade unions, academics, Scottish Enterprise officials, and civil servants from the Scottish Government.

This inquiry, led by Edinburgh’s Gig Economy Task Force and spearheaded by the Council, was the preliminary piece of work to understand the key issues as well as the immediate actions to be taken alongside the long-term legislative changes that need to be considered so gig workers feel empowered, are treated equally and are able to make a fair wage for a fair day’s work.

Next week (on 24 March) a report from the Task Force will feedback its seven recommendations* to the Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Committee.

If agreed these recommendations will be developed into an action plan to be brought back to committee in Autumn this year (2022). This will focus on short, medium and long-term priorities which the Council and partners across the city will be asked to focus on to improve access to fair work for people working across the gig economy, including zero hours contract workers.

One key area recognised by the inquiry was to understand gig workers’ rights to accessing the data collected on them and what transparency exists on the way company algorithms use this data to determine how jobs are offered, how much workers earn, and other challenges workers face.

If agreed, as part of the recommendations the Council will build on the findings, and continue to work with gig workers, businesses and the Scottish Government to understand more about existing rights of access to worker’s’ data while also considering whether data driven innovation tools could be used to help gig workers analyse and better understand their earnings and conditions.

The other recommendations* focus on issues relating to licensing and regulation of the gig economy, public sector procurement, alternative business models and establishing a gig economy worker’s charter for Edinburgh.

The short-life Task Force was established in November 2021 as part of the work plan for the Living Wage City Action Group, and after the Council welcomed the UK Supreme Court’s decision to confirm the status of Uber drivers as workers.

Its objective was to understand the real experiences of workers in the gig economy in Edinburgh, while also looking to explore actions that will tackle the concerns and challenges they face and could improve working conditions, rights and quality of employment.

During its inquiry the Task Force recognised that flexibility and ease of access to employment can be a positive aspect of these roles for some workers, usually those using it as a ‘top-up’ to another income stream or those who have caring responsibilities, or for example students.

However, the growth of the sector has been associated with concerns over low rates of pay, poor income security, risk of in-work poverty, poor opportunities for progression, as well poor working conditions and worker safety.

It is recognised that a growing number of people are becoming reliant on gig economy work as the sole source of income, and they tend to be the people most impacted by poor working conditions and unreliable pay.

Councillor Kate Campbell, Convener of the Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Committee and chair of the Gig Economy Task Force said: “As part of the action plan for the Living Wage City accreditation, and as part of our fair work agenda, I knew it was vital that we did some work to look at the gig economy in Edinburgh and the impact on pay, rights and working conditions.

“The Gig Economy Task Force was put together with the aim of getting a clear understanding of where the real issues lie, what powers the council has to improve conditions now, and where we need to focus on, and implement changes, in future.

“It’s pretty clear that there is a strong power imbalance. For many gig economy workers their shifts, performance monitoring and pay are controlled by an algorithm. This can be incredibly disempowering. We need to look at who has access to data, and how that data is used, and understand what reforms could empower workers.

“We also came to the conclusion that we need to look at current licensing powers, and procurement. And look at strengthening workers’ rights, raising awareness of those rights and understanding how the categorisation of workers impacts on their working conditions. For example gig economy workers are classed as ‘self employed’ – but the reality of their day to day working lives is very far from what most of us would consider self employment.

“I hope we’ll come together next week at Committee and agree the recommendations, so that we can get on with these actions, starting the journey to dramatically improving the working conditions for the growing number of gig economy workers in our city.”

Councillor Mandy Watt, Vice Convener of the Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Committee said: “This task force was established in response to a motion that we raised regarding Uber and was widened to include other gig economy and zero hours workers by the convenor.

“Our intention is to highlight the rights that these workers should already have and to find ways of supporting their efforts to achieve safer working practices and fairer terms and conditions.”

The Gig Economy Task Force was chaired by the Convener of the Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Committee, and comprised workers who have first-hand experience of the gig economy and precarious work in Edinburgh, as well as workers’ representatives, academics, alongside relevant policy leads from the Council, Scottish Government and its agencies.

*Gig Economy Task Force Recommendations:

  1. A costed proposal for a dedicated workers’ hub in Edinburgh, providing access to advice and support.
  2. A costed proposal for ongoing campaign work to provide information on and raise awareness on worker rights in Edinburgh, good working practices, and how to access support.
  3. Licensing: The Council should facilitate and host further work with gig economy and precarious workers, businesses and government on issues relating to licensing and regulation of gig economy and precarious employment. 
  4. Procurement: The Council should facilitate and host further work with workers, businesses and government on issues relating public sector procurement fair work and the gig economy. 
  5. Data Rights and Access: The Council should facilitate and host further work with gig economy workers, businesses and government on issues raised during this inquiry relating data rights and access for workers in the gig economy. 
  6. Alternative Gig Economy Business Models: The Council should facilitate and host further work with gig economy workers, businesses and government to hear more about examples observed in other European cities.
  7. A workers’ charter for Edinburgh: Building on all of the above, the Council should facilitate further engagement with gig economy workers and businesses.

The development of this Task Force has been informed by the Council’s Fair Work Action Plan and Edinburgh Economy Strategy, both of which emphasise the importance of fair work that provide citizens with dignity and security of income.

Warm Scots Welcome: Scheme opens for displaced Ukrainians

Scotland’s offer to provide refuge and sanctuary to displaced Ukrainians, as part of the UK Government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme, is now open.

Accessible through the UK Government’s online portal, a distinct route to accommodation, support and care in Scotland – the Warm Scots Welcome – is now available to people displaced by the invasion of Ukraine.

Acting as a ‘super sponsor’, the Scottish Government’s route removes the need for applicants to be matched to a named individual before they are cleared to travel to the UK through the visa system.

The Scottish programme is available as an option to Ukrainians when applying for a visa under the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme, by opting for the organisational sponsor route, and selecting “The Scottish Government” from the drop-down box in response to the question “Which organisation is sponsoring you?”

Scottish people willing to volunteer and provide homes for Ukrainians arriving through the sponsorship scheme are encouraged to sign up at the Homes for Ukraine portal.

Their details will be shared with Scottish Government so that appropriate matches can be arranged while immediate support is provided to those arriving.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “Our distinct offer for a warm Scottish welcome to the displaced people of Ukraine is now open, as part of the UK’s Homes for Ukraine.

“We intend to fully harness the thousands of individual offers from people in Scotland willing to provide Ukrainians with a home. And I encourage those who want to help to express an interest on the Homes for Ukraine portal.

“We still believe visas should have been waived for those fleeing the appalling and illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia, but we established this Scottish scheme, embedded within the UK system, to provide help right now to those who need it.

“Our programme will allow significant numbers of people fleeing Ukraine to come to Scotland immediately, and will be able to come to Scotland for safety and sanctuary first.

“To those Ukrainians arriving in our country, I can say we will treat you with compassion, dignity and respect, and I extend a warm welcome to Scotland, our home – and, for as long as you need it, yours too.”

It is also possible for Ukrainian displaced people to come to Scotland by the other two routes: the family visa route and the individual sponsor route.

The Scottish Government is working with partners – local councils, the Scottish Refugee Council, the NHS, Disclosure Scotland, NGOs, faith groups and others – to complete safeguarding checks, put in place wider health, education, practical and befriending support, and arrange longer term accommodation.

The process for Ukrainian applicants to apply is this:

  • Go to https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-a-visa-under-the-ukraine-sponsorship-scheme#apply
  • Read the guidance there, then click “apply online”
  • After answering questions about whether you have a Ukrainian international passport, you will reach a page headed “Apply for the Ukraine Scheme”
  • Read the guidance there, then click “Apply now”
  • On the next screen, choose “Ukraine sponsorship scheme”, then “I am being sponsored by an organisation”
  • Click “Save and continue”
  • On the next page, headed “Sponsoring Organisation”, choose “The Scottish Government” from the dropdown box
  • Continue with your application.

Government scheme that protected millions of jobs with £38 billion of support lent to businesses closes today

  • The Covid Corporate Financing Facility, which provided a quick and cost-effective way to raise working capital for large firms, comes to an end with every penny repaid.
  • The Bank of England facility provided almost £38 billion of support to more than 100 of the UK’s biggest firms, and made a profit for the taxpayer whilst protecting millions of jobs.
  • Firms that employ almost 2.5 million people were directly supported including those in the car industry, travel, hospitality, and high street stores.

The Chancellor has hailed the success of a Covid scheme that provided almost £38 billion of support to some of the UK’s biggest employers during the pandemic, protecting millions of jobs whilst making a return for the taxpayer, as it comes to an end today.

Household names, such as Gatwick Airport, the Football Association and the National Trust, were among more than 100 of the UK’s biggest employers that benefitted from the Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF). The scheme has recouped every penny that was lent – plus a profit of over £60 million.

Rishi Sunak said the Bank of England administered scheme, which was launched in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic, was another example of the government offering support at unprecedented speed to protect millions of jobs and taxpayer’s money simultaneously.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: “We not only took unprecedented action but did so at unprecedented speed to protect jobs and businesses throughout the pandemic.

“The CCFF scheme ensured that many of the UK’s biggest employers could continue to pay wages and suppliers, protecting millions of jobs – and on top of that every penny has been repaid.”

The final CCFF repayments were made today, with all companies paying back what they owed. The scheme has made a profit of over £60 million for the taxpayer because the rate of interest applied to the cash provided by the Bank of England was priced at rates comparable to the market before Covid. Companies therefore paid back a slightly larger amount at maturity compared to the finance they borrowed initially.

Peter Vermeulen, Chief Financial Officer at the National Trust, said: “The HM Treasury team did an amazing job during the height of the pandemic. The National Trust, like many other large organisations, experienced an unprecedented liquidity squeeze, accompanied by enormous levels of uncertainty around the future.

“The CCFF was set up swiftly and in a highly transparent manner. The team at HM Treasury issued clear guidance and worked tirelessly to support us with the application and the associated legalities.

“We cannot commend the team highly enough for the excellent work they have done. It was an essential lifeline for the National Trust and has safeguarded some of the essential work we do on cultural and natural heritage, for the Nation. Thank you.”

Mark Burrows, Chief Operating Officer at The Football Association, said: “The pandemic was a serious challenge for The FA. We were faced with huge losses from cancelled events and competition disruptions affecting our broadcasting rights.

“As a not-for-profit organisation that reinvests its surplus into grassroots football, being able to rely on the security of CCFF as a quick and cost-effective way to raise working capital meant we were able not only to continue to support our business, but grassroots football across the country.”

Through the purchasing of short-term corporate debt – known as commercial paper – the CCFF provided a quick and cost-effective way to raise working capital for companies who were fundamentally strong but were at risk of experiencing severe disruption to cashflows.

Because it lent directly to large companies, the scheme also provided banks with the space to lend to a wider population of firms who could have otherwise gone bust during the pandemic.

The scheme helped companies across a range of sectors including the car industry, travel, hospitality, and high street stores. It kept cash flowing and delivered on the government’s commitment to do everything it could to support the economy and protect jobs.

Healthy Tip – Salt: We consume 40% more than what is recommended

Heart Research UK Healthy Heart Tip, written by the Health Promotion and Education Team at Heart Research UK

Healthy Heart Tip: Salt Awareness

14th to 20th March 2022 is Salt Awareness Week. It is estimated that in the UK we consume around 8.4g of salt a day which is 40% more than the recommended 6g a day. Too much salt in your diet can have a negative effect on your health and can increase the risk of water retention, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and kidney disease.  Here are some tips to help you reduce your salt intake:

  • Reduce salt gradually

By gradually reducing the amount of salt in your food, your taste buds will adapt over time. Try tasting your food before you add salt. You may find that your food is tasty enough. You could try experimenting with different flavours to replace added salt, such as herbs, spices, lemons, or limes.

  • Check food labels

Around 75% of the food we eat contains hidden salt. Food labels use a traffic light system, which allows us to see if a product contains a low (green), medium (amber), or high (red) amount of salt.

Check the labels to see how much salt is in your food before you buy. Different brands of similar products contain varying amounts of salt, so look at the label and choose products that contain less salt. Salt is made up of sodium chloride and sometimes the label will list ‘sodium’ but not ‘salt’.

You can work out how much salt is in a product by multiplying every 1g of sodium by 2.5.

  • Make a swap

Swap your high salt foods with foods lower in salt. Try snacking on fruit and vegetables, plain rice cakes, unsalted nuts and seeds or lower salt alternatives to your usual snacks.

Foods such as processed meats, stock cubes, ready-made sauces and powdered soups can contain high amounts of salt. Try swapping these for lower salt versions or make your own soups, with little or no added salt. You can also reduce the amount of salt in your diet by having smaller portions of foods that are higher in salt.

Adopting these tips can be challenging, but reducing your salt consumption gradually over time can help to reduce your risk of high blood pressure and coronary heart disease.

For more tips on how to stay healthy, sign up for our weekly healthy tips at www.heartresearch.org.uk/healthy-tips

To help keep your heart healthy, why not try out some of our Healthy Heart recipes from our website: https://heartresearch.org.uk/heart-research-uk-recipes-2/

Or have a look through our Healthy Heart cookbook filled with recipes from top chefs, celebrities and food bloggers:

https://heartresearch.org.uk/heart-research-uk-cookbook/

Scottish Government sets up food security and supply taskforce

A short-life taskforce has been established to monitor, identify and respond to any potential disruption to food security and supply resulting from the impact of the war in Ukraine.

The Scottish Government has set up the Food Security and Supply Taskforce jointly with industry. It will be co-chaired by Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands, Mairi Gougeon and Chief Executive of Scotland Food & Drink, James Withers.

Drawing on technical and scientific knowledge and expertise from across a range of sectors, agencies and organisations, the taskforce will include key food and drink industry leaders and will meet frequently over the coming weeks.

Ms Gougeon said: “The truly terrible events in Ukraine and the resulting western sanctions on Russia are, rightly, changing the way the world does business. Our immediate focus as a Government continues to be on doing everything we can within our power to support the people of Ukraine and address their humanitarian need.

“We need to take action now to better understand the potential impact of disruption to the food supply chain in Scotland, how industry and government might work together to manage and mitigate those, and be alert to the resulting impact on the cost of food products.

“Over the last two years, our food and drink sectors have experienced a series of shocks in terms of disrupted supply chains and new barriers to trade through COVID and Brexit.  It is clear that the unfolding tragedy in Ukraine will have further impacts – not least through the hugely challenging increases in energy bills which affect households and everyone in the food industry, from farmers to hauliers, processors to retailers.

“That is why the Scottish Government has convened a taskforce jointly with industry to monitor, identify and respond to these issues, as well as recommending actions that can be taken by business, the Scottish and UK Governments to mitigate the challenges.

“Crucially, the taskforce will also consider how we can continue to get products and food supplies to Ukraine we must not forget that there is a population still there that will desperately need our help and support in the weeks ahead.

“I welcome the involvement of food and drink industry leaders across Scotland and look forward to working together to strengthen food security and supply.”

James Withers said: “The establishment of this taskforce is a welcome and an important step. 

“The immediate focus from the war in Ukraine is on the humanitarian fallout.  However, it is also critical that we assess urgently the potential impact of the conflict on national food security and supply.

“From wheat and barley to sunflower oil, Ukraine and the surrounding region is a major player in terms of global food supply and agricultural production.

“Immediate supplies of food and animal feed are secure, even if prices are rising sharply. However, whilst much still remains unknown in terms of the impact of the war on global supply chains, there is clearly a shock to the system coming. 

“We must understand its implications for Scotland’s farmers, food manufacturers and consumers and consider any short or medium-term action we can take to mitigate their impact.”

SplashLearn announces SpringBoard Maths Challenge 2022

Opportunity for classrooms to collaborate and compete, with prizes worth over £8,000 up for grabs

The popular game-based learning programme SplashLearn has announced the second UK edition of its massively popular SpringBoard Maths Challenge.

The maths competition is a calendar marked event and is highly anticipated by teachers across the US and Canada. The SpringBoard Maths Challenge 2022 is open to all classes from Year 1 through Year 6 in the UK and will run from March 1 – May 8, 2022.

Participation in the challenge, which is free, is designed to give teachers and schools the opportunity to engage their primary school students through fun maths challenges aligned to the national curriculum. The 10-week competition provides the perfect opportunity for teachers in Scotland to engage pupils in maths learning to master their maths skills and boost their confidence, all whilst having fun throughout the process.

After creating an account on SplashLearn, teachers can enrol their classes for SpringBoard 2022. Once enrolled, students can immediately start solving maths problems that will earn them points individually as well as adding up and counting towards the total class score.

The best performing classes with the highest points win weekly prizes at both a county and national level. The final winners will be announced at the end of SpringBoard, with prizes worth in excess of £8,000 up for grabs.

Joy Deep Nath, co-founder, SplashLearn, said: “SpringBoard is a maths competition, but over the years it has grown to be a platform for social and emotional bonding for both students and teachers alike.

“Of course, it also helps teachers to tackle the attainment gap and ensures students are prepared for the next school year. There is a growing appreciation for SpringBoard as an effective tool to challenge students in a familiar, secure and friendly setting to practice with their peers, which is paramount in the present times.”

Arpit Jain, CEO, SplashLearn, said: “SpringBoard, over the years has become like a tradition. It brings teachers and students together in an environment that enables competition as well as collaboration but most importantly celebrates learning. 

“The fun and playful aspects of the competition ensures students stay motivated engaged, excited and continue learning, which is so important. I wish every school the greatest success, and every child a very happy learning journey.”

Catering for Year 1-Year 6 pupils, the SplashLearn programme is available completely free of charge to all schools and teachers in the UK, with the maths content covering more than 570 skills through 2000 activities and games.

Registration for teachers and entry to the competition is already open, and teachers can sign up for the SpringBoard Maths Challenge 2022 by visiting this page.

Deliberate fires ‘placing lives at risk’

Firefighters in Scotland were called to tackle almost 80 deliberately set fires every single day during Spring last year – more than two thirds than during the same period in 2020.

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) crews were mobilised to a total of 4,287 incidents of deliberate fire-raising between March and April 2021.

The figures have been released to coincide with the launch of the service’s #SpringSafety campaign.

This is an increase of 71 per cent on the year before, when SFRS crews were turned out to 2,493 needless emergency incidents.

The data shows how deliberate fires in Spring last year included 582 in the city of Glasgow (an increase of 54% on 2020) and 337 in Edinburgh (up 71%).

Other notable year-on-year increases included a 209% rise in the Perth, Kinross, Angus and Dundee area (up from 130 to 402); 94% rise in East Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire and Inverclyde (up from

188 to 364); and 86% in Falkirk and West Lothian (up from 190 to 354). [See full regional year-on-year breakdown below]

The 4,287 deliberate fires were largely comprised of outdoor incidents impacting fields, refuse, and countryside, but also involved hundreds of building and vehicle fires.

This behaviour could place lives at risk, warned Deputy Assistant Chief Officer Alasdair Perry, Head of Prevention and Protection for SFRS.

DACO Perry said: “We take a zero-tolerance approach to deliberate fire-raising and it is a small minority of individuals who are potentially putting themselves, our firefighters and innocent bystanders at risk of serious harm and injury.

“Make no mistake – fire can cause injury and death, it can be devastating to properties, businesses and the environment.

“Last year, we witnessed a shocking rise in deliberate fire-raising during the Spring period.  The fact that our firefighters are called to thousands of deliberately set fires each year is completely unacceptable.

“These incidents are a needless drain on our resources and can impact on our response to genuine emergencies.”

DACO Perry warned that the SFRS will continue to do everything in its power to help Police Scotland trace those risking the safety of communities across Scotland. He said: “It absolutely goes without saying that we want to prevent fires – not fight fires.

“As a result, our firefighters work extremely hard to engage with the public and promote safety messages, and parents, guardians and carers can also help by making sure that children and young people are aware of the risks.

“But let me be very clear – we operate a strict zero tolerance approach to deliberate fire-raising. It is a criminal offence and can have devastating consequences.

“We will continue to work very closely with our police and local authority partners to provide evidence that will ensure those responsible are identified and held to account for their actions.”

Anyone with information about deliberate fire-raising should contact the free and confidential Crimestoppers helpline on 0800 555 111.

Crimestoppers: https://crimestoppers-uk.org/

https://youtu.be/Nbnbwb0WVTI

Young people can also contact Fearless – a reporting line for young people who have their own concerns which is completely anonymous.

Fearless: https://www.fearless.org/en

More information is available at: 

https://www.firescotland.gov.uk/your-safety/outdoors/deliberate-fires/

Is child poverty heading in the right direction?

FRASER of ALLENDAR INSTITUTE: – taking stock ahead of the second Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan

This month is a big month for tackling poverty in Scotland.  It sees the publication of the Scottish Government’s second Tackling Child Poverty Delivery plan.  March usually, however, also sees the publication of the official Poverty and Inequality statistics – the primary measures of success of action to reduce poverty.  They should have given us the main poverty statistics for the first year of the covid pandemic, i.e. 2020/21.

That Scottish Government has warned, however, that the estimates will not be robust enough to be published as official statistics, due to issues with data collection during the pandemic, which means that they are unlikely to be able to tell us whether relative child poverty rose or fell in 2020/21.

Persistent poverty, which measures whether children have been in relative poverty in three out of the last four years are in persistent poverty uses a longitudinal survey (Understanding Society) which has been less affected by pandemic restrictions and will be released as normal on the 31st March.

However, measures of relative and absolute child poverty, and measures of material deprivation, will effectively be void for 2020/21.

This gap in data is clearly problematic, particularly for those trying to understand the impact of the pandemic on people’s financial situations.

Looking over the long term however, 2020/21 would have no doubt been an outlier due to level of disruption and the impact of things like the furlough scheme and the temporary uplift to Universal Credit.

An important question (which future data will answer) is the extent the pandemic has permanently impacted financially on households, while for some the flux of 2020/21 will have been short-lived, for many it has added the challenges they already face and could have longer-term impacts.

It will be a number of years until we fully understand the long term scarring. In the meantime, as we discussed this time last year as we awaited 2019/20 data on incomes and poverty, pre-pandemic data is as good a benchmark as any to plan for future policy delivery as long as we bear in mind that there is more uncertainty than ever over these figures at the moment.

The second tackling child poverty delivery plan

Future policy delivery is exactly what the Scottish Government will be planning at the moment as they get ready to publish their second tackling child poverty delivery plan and a key part of this will be estimating the impact of measures in the first delivery plan, as well as the impact of announcements at UK Government level[i].

In the three years to 2019/20, relative child poverty was 24%. The continuing impact of the two child limit and the benefit cap are expected to exert upwards pressure on poverty, in the region of 1 to 2 percentage points by 2023/24.

However, there have been two major policy changes which should more than offset this upwards pressure. In the last year, we have seen the Scottish Government announce the doubling of the Scottish Child Payment to £20 a week and some significant changes made by the UK Government to Universal Credit to the work allowance and the rate at which the benefit is tapered away for those in work. Holding all else equal, these will have increased incomes for many low-income families with children, and therefore decreased poverty.

Our best estimate at the moment suggests that the Scottish Child Payment (£20 paid to all children under 16) will shift poverty downwards by 2 to 3 percentage points by 2023/24, with an additional downwards shift of 1 to 2 percentage points due to the changes to Universal Credit.

This implies that policy changes have put child poverty in Scotland on a downwards trajectory. However, even taking these into account, based on policies announced to date our modelling suggests that there is still likely to be a 3 – 4 percentage point gap between expected poverty in 2023/24 and the interim target of 18%.

There are other policy changes that may reinforce this further, for example, employability policies such as Fair Start Scotland and the rollout of 30 hours of free childcare to all 3- and 4-year olds that took place in August 2021 could help boost incomes by 2023/24 but even taking these into account, we are still likely to be above the target level unless new policies are announced. 

After the tackling child poverty delivery plan has been announced we will be able to reassess these estimates.

Beyond relative poverty

Inflationary pressures are unlikely to impact the relative poverty measure too much, as long as the impact on incomes is reasonably spread through the income distribution, which seems likely given that neither social security levels nor wages look likely to keep up with inflation.  That being said, the huge jump in energy prices will clearly impact on the spending power of low-income households in particular.  It is worth remembering, though, that energy costs are not included in the relative poverty measure, even though they are a significant area of expenditure.

Relative child poverty is often referred to as the headline measure of child poverty, but it is only one of the measures specified in the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017. The other measures, by design,  provide greater insight into the impact of increases in the cost of basic goods and services.

Absolute poverty measures whether living standards for those in poverty are increasing over time. Large increases in the cost of living, both now and those expected in the future, will mean that meeting this target will be increasingly difficult.  Meaning that while people’s incomes may improve relative to others, they will not see the same improvement in their standard of living.  It will also impact on the material deprivation measure which measures whether or not people can afford basic goods and services.

Persistent poverty is based on a relative measure and therefore is also not likely to be impacted severely by inflationary pressures

Uncertainty still reigns, but meeting the 2030/31 targets will require new policy             

Tackling child poverty is a long term aim of the Scottish Government, and by the time the final targets need to be met in 2030/31, the pandemic should be long behind us.

Work published by FAI, MMU and the Poverty Alliance earlier this year found that structural policies such as childcare, social security and employability programmes could make substantial inroads in meeting the 2030/31 targets, with potential for some significant economic benefits as a result. However, the cost implications of these kinds of policies are large.

To get to the 2030/31 targets, waiting until the next delivery plan in 2026 to do all the heavy lifting may be too late for the required development and implementation (the Scottish Child Payment was first announced under the guises of an income supplement 4 years ago).

Much, therefore, rests on the soon to be published Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan.  While the 2030/31 targets are some time away, the required action to meet the targets is significant and will take time.  We will be working with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation to assess the potential of the plan to meet these ambitions once it has been published.

Record investment for active travel in Scotland

The Scottish Government announced record investment in active travel for 2022-23 yesterday. This includes new funding for footpaths, significantly increased funding for local authorities and more than doubling the funding to the National Cycle Network.  

Living Streets Scotland, part of the UK charity for everyday walking will receive £555k in 2022/23. The Transport Scotland funding will see the charity work with over 450 schools to run its walk to school programme, which successfully increases walking rates and decreases congestion levels.

It will also allow work to continue on ‘20-minute neighbourhoods’, to ensure local facilities are within a safe and pleasant walking distance.  

Commenting on Thursday’s announcement from Patrick Harvie MSP in the Scottish Parliament, Stuart Hay, Director Living Streets Scotland said:  “Today is an important milestone in helping to turn Scotland into a more active, healthy and sustainable nation. We are pleased steps are being made to give walking, wheeling and cycling a reasonable share of transport budgets.  

“We are thrilled to receive additional support to grow our work in Scotland, including plans to reach over 450 primary schools, high schools and nurseries. These projects will aim to boost walking to school and reduce car journeys by 10%. 

“With extra resources we hope to work in every Scottish local authority area on programmes such WOW – our walk to school challenge and Walk to School Week. These projects will contribute towards Scotland’s ambitious national targets to reduce road traffic by 20%. Nowhere is this needed more than outside schools. 

“We look forward to working with other partners including Cycling Scotland, Sustrans Scotland and Paths for all to address the very real challenges of creating good walking environments at a local level.” 

Join the Adventurers!

We are looking for young people P5 – P7 for our two Adventurers groups from 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays!

The group involves learning how to safely have fun outdoor adventures!

To find out more email: aga@pycp.co.uk

Or Call: 073050 54162

Come join us!