Day: August 15, 2025

350,000 Baby Boxes delivered

EIGHT YEARS OFUNIVERSAL SUPPORT FOR FAMILIES

Over 350,000 Baby Boxes packed with essential items for newborns have been delivered across Scotland, saving expectant parents around £400 and giving children the best start in life.

The Scottish Government’s universal Baby Box programme, the only one of its kind in the UK, is offered to all parents of newborn babies. Backed by almost £8 million funding in 2025-26, the Baby Box helps to ensure that every family has access to items needed in the first six months of a child’s life, as well as a safe space to sleep.

Marking the eight-year anniversary of the programme, First Minister John Swinney will meet expectant mother Mairi Morrison and her partner George Waddington at Western Isles Hospital in Lewis to deliver their Baby Box.

The First Minister said: “Scotland’s Baby Box strongly signals our determination that every child, regardless of their circumstances, should get the best start in life. The programme is supporting families right across the length and bread of Scotland, including here in the Western Isles where 1,281 boxes have been delivered to date.

“It is clear that this universal offer, a UK first, has been hugely successful with 89% of all parents with newborn babies registering for a box – benefiting around 41,000 families annually.

“My number one priority as First Minister is to end child poverty in Scotland – and I am very proud of the impact that the baby box is making to support families across the country.”

The Scottish Government’s universal Baby Box programme opened for registration on 15 June 2017 with Boxes being delivered in August 2017.   

The Baby Box includes items which support breastfeeding, such as breast pads and a leaflet with top tips on breastfeeding and how to access support.  Among other items the Baby Box contains 2 baby books, a carrier sling, underarm thermometer, bath & room thermometer, play mat, around 15 items of clothes for age 0 – 6 months, a changing mat, a redeemable voucher for a reusable nappy and liners and many other useful items for mother and baby.

The 2025-26 Programme for Government includes a commitment to enhance the contents of the Baby Box by March 2026, building on feedback from parents and frontline practitioners working with families, which will strengthen support for early child development and to mitigate the impact of poverty on babies. 

Stark statistics highlight wealth gap

New statistics show average wealth remained stable, while wealth inequality remained high.

According to the latest data which covers the period during the pandemic, a typical household in Scotland had £239,500 in total wealth, similar to previous years.

A typical household in the wealthiest 10% of households had £1.3 million in total wealth, whereas a typical household in the least wealthy 10% of households had £7,600.

The least wealthy households rarely own property or have any private pension savings. Their wealth is mainly made up of the value of their possessions such as cars, furniture and clothing.

Wealth inequality is more severe than income inequality: the 2% of households with the highest incomes had 10% of all income, while the wealthiest 2% of households had 15% of all wealth.

Households that tend to be wealthier than others are higher income households, pensioner couples, and home owners. In contrast, households with below average wealth tend to be low income households, lone-parent and single working-age adult households, and those in rented housing.

A fifth of households had insufficient savings to keep them above the poverty line for a month should they lose their income. Three per cent of households were in unmanageable debt. Just over a third of households did not own any property, and a third of adults had no private pension savings.

The released figures were produced in accordance with professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

The full statistical publication: Wealth in Scotland 2006-2022