A report published today says that nearly one in three children living in the Forth ward are living in poverty. The report shows that 13 Scottish councils have wards where more than 30% of children live in pockets of severe poverty, and campaigners are urging politicians to do much more to tackle this ‘shameful’ social problem.
The Campaign to End Child Poverty has produced a map of child poverty for every ward, council and constituency in the country. Scottish members of the Campaign to End Child Poverty include Action for Children Scotland, Barnardo’s Scotland, Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland, Children 1st, the Church of Scotland, One Parent Families Scotland, Poverty Alliance and Save the Children.
The map classes children as living in poverty if they are in families on out of work benefits or work tax credits where income is less than 60% of median – before housing costs. The Campaign to End Child Poverty said the latest official figures showed that overall in Scotland 20% of children live in poverty on this measure.
In Edinburgh, Sighthill/Gorgie shows the highest levels of poverty at 36%, followed by Forth (30%), Portobello/Craigmillar (30%), Leith (29%) and Liberton/Gilmerton at 28%.
Child Poverty Action Group’s John Dickie, speaking on behalf of Scottish members of the campaign, said: “It is shameful that in almost every part of our country there are children who are missing out and seeing their future life chances seriously harmed. With public spending budgets under severe pressure the need to invest to prevent the numbers of children living in poverty spiralling is greater than ever.”
A Scottish government spokeswoman said: “We are determined to address the root causes of child poverty. That’s why last year we launched Scotland’s first ever national strategy to tackle child poverty, which will see Scotland’s poorest families benefit from help to increase their household incomes and improve their children’s life chances.”