Child poverty delivery plan needs to be ‘turbocharged not underfunded’

Campaigners respond to annual Scottish child poverty reports

• Child poverty campaigners respond to latest child progress reports from Scottish Government and independent Poverty and Inequality Commission.
• One in four children still living in poverty, against 2030 target of less than one in ten.
• “Reports are crystal clear that progress has stalled” say campaigners.

John Dickie, Director of the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland, has responded to the publication of the Scottish Government’s sixth Annual Tackling Child Poverty Progress Report and the Poverty and Inequality Commission independent scrutiny report.

The annual report is a statutory requirement under the 2017 Child Poverty (Scotland) Act and sets out the progress made towards meeting legally binding child poverty targets. The Act requires Scottish Ministers to consult the Commission in preparing its report.

Mr Dickie said; “We have seen very real action on child poverty in Scotland, not least the roll out of the Scottish child payment, but today’s reports are crystal clear that progress has stalled and that the policies in place are not enough to meet statutory targets.  If child poverty really is the First Minister’s number one priority, then investment decisions need to back that up.”

Responding to the Cabinet Secretary’s statement to Parliament yesterday in which she said it had “not been possible to invest in all of the actions the government would have wished“, Mr Dickie said: “The failure of the 2024/25 Scottish budget to fully fund the childcare, employment and housing actions in the government’s own plan must never be repeated. The Scottish government’s child poverty delivery plan needs to be turbocharged, not underfunded.

“All political parties need to act at every level of government to deliver the economic, tax and spending plans that will ensure every family has the resources needed to protect their children from poverty. Here in Scotland the first step needs to be an immediate real terms increase to the Scottish child payment, and a commitment to ensure it reaches £40 per week by the end of the Parliament.

“At UK level all parties must commit to scrapping the poverty producing two-child limit and to increasing child benefit by £20 per week.

“Our children deserve nothing less.”

The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 requires Scottish Ministers to ensure less than less than 10% of children are living in poverty by 2030.

The latest official statistics (for 2021 to 2023) show that 24% of children (250 000 children) were living in poverty in Scotland.