Category: North Edinburgh News

• Campaigners call for rethink of UK benefits cuts 

 The End Child Poverty coalition has  published a new child poverty map covering Scotland and the rest of the UK. The latest figures reveal that poverty affects children in every part of Scotland, with as many as 34% of children living in poverty in some local authority areas – compared to just one in ten in others.

Across the UK more than three and a half million children are living in poverty, with 220,000 of them living here in Scotland.

Local child poverty estimates are broken down by local authority, parliamentary constituency and ward and show huge variation across the country.

Members of End Child Poverty in Scotland, including Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland, Barnardos Scotland, One Parent Families Scotland (OPFS) Children1st and the Poverty Alliance are calling for urgent action to be taken at UK, Scottish and local government level.

The coalition is calling on the Chancellor to use the upcoming Autumn Statement to end the freeze on children’s benefits, and reverse the sharp cuts being introduced to in-work benefits under Universal Credit. They warn that the current benefits freeze means that as prices rise, low income families find it increasingly hard to pay for basic essentials at the same time as cuts to Universal Credit are pushing more working families below the poverty line.

In Scotland the campaigners are calling on Holyrood and local government to make sure the proposed Child Poverty (Scotland) Bill addresses poverty at local level.They believe that the Bill, which will enshrine the Scottish Government’s ambition to eradicate child poverty by 2030, should explicitly set out and support the role of local government and its community planning partners in tackling child poverty.

John Dickie, Director of Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland said: “There’s no doubt that many of the key drivers of child poverty are UK wide and if the new Prime Minister is serious about supporting families then decisive action must be taken to end the freeze on children’s benefits and reverse sharp cuts to in-work support under Universal Credit.

“But this new map also makes it clear that child poverty plays out in different ways at local level. Local authorities and their partners know their communities and are in a great position to work with local people to prevent poverty. Many are already doing important work to make sure local childcare, housing and employability policies are working for low income families.

The new Scottish child poverty legislation must now be drafted so as to ensure all local authorities are supported in law to take a strategic approach, and that all levels of government are pulling in the same direction – towards a Scotland free from child poverty.”

Martin Crewe, Director of Barnardo’s Scotland, said: “The latest map of child poverty across Scotland reflects the experience of our services working with families on low income day in, day out.

“There is much good work taking place to support these children and families but given their financial situation changes in benefits that reduce income have a damaging effect on parents and children. To address these challenges Barnardo’s Scotland works in partnership with local authorities and public bodies in many areas. We recognise the key role they have in the ambition to eradicate poverty and believe that a strategic approach to tackling poverty at the local level should be a key part of the new Child Poverty Bill as well as support to implement this duty”.

Peter Kelly, Director of the Poverty Alliance said: “Poverty in Scotland continues to harm the lives of children across Scotland, as this new map shows. Living on a low income not only affects their well-being now, but can have a negative impact in the future. This is an unnecessary situation and one that requires urgent attention.

“The forthcoming Scottish Child Poverty Bill and the Social-Economic Duty should begin to focus more action on the way that we support people at the local level. However, these figures also serve to highlight the damaging impact that cuts to social security benefits by the UK Government have had on many Scottish families. If Theresa May wants to signal a new direction for her Government, then these cuts should be reversed.”

Alison Todd, Chief Executive of Children 1st, Scotland’s National Children’s Charity said: ““Many of the children and families we support are becoming increasingly caught in a complex poverty trap which includes housing costs, trying to meet the costs of enabling their children to take part in school activities and being isolated from opportunities. By working in genuine partnership with families experiencing poverty, local authorities can make a real difference in these and many other areas to help lift children out of poverty.”

Scotland

Percentage of children in poverty (after housing costs)

By Local Authority

Aberdeen City	18.2%
Aberdeenshire	13.1%
Angus	20.6%
Argyll and Bute	20.4%
Clackmannanshire	27.3%
Dumfries and Galloway	24.3%
Dundee City	27.7%
East Ayrshire	28.0%
East Dunbartonshire	14.2%
East Lothian	20.3%
East Renfrewshire	14.5%
Edinburgh, City of	22.0%
Eileanan an Iar	17.6%
Falkirk	22.0%
Fife	25.0%
Glasgow City	34.1%
Highland	19.2%
Inverclyde	27.9%
Midlothian	22.5%
Moray	17.2%
North Ayrshire	30.4%
North Lanarkshire	25.0%
Orkney Islands	14.1%
Perth and Kinross	18.2%
Renfrewshire	23.6%
Scottish Borders	21.0%
Shetland Islands	10.6%
South Ayrshire	25.7%
South Lanarkshire	22.0%
Stirling	18.8%
West Dunbartonshire	26.5%
West Lothian	22.8%

 

By Parliamentary Constituency

Aberdeen North	23.0%
Aberdeen South	15.7%
Airdrie and Shotts	28.2%
Angus	23.3%
Argyll and Bute	20.4%
Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock	30.0%
Banff and Buchan	18.9%
Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk	22.7%
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross	23.0%
Central Ayrshire	27.0%
Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill	22.6%
Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East	22.2%
Dumfries and Galloway	24.8%
Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale	20.0%
Dundee East	22.7%
Dundee West	27.9%
Dunfermline and West Fife	21.0%
East Dunbartonshire	12.2%
East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow	19.6%
East Lothian	20.3%
East Renfrewshire	14.5%
Edinburgh East	27.3%
Edinburgh North and Leith	23.7%
Edinburgh South	18.5%
Edinburgh South West	23.4%
Edinburgh West	17.5%
Na h-Eileanan an Iar	17.6%
Falkirk	21.1%
Glasgow Central	39.2%
Glasgow East	33.7%
Glasgow North	31.0%
Glasgow North East	37.6%
Glasgow North West	33.2%
Glasgow South	29.3%
Glasgow South West	33.4%
Glenrothes	30.6%
Gordon	9.2%
Inverclyde	27.9%
Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey	17.7%
Kilmarnock and Loudoun	26.7%
Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath	27.7%
Lanark and Hamilton East	23.7%
Linlithgow and East Falkirk	23.1%
Livingston	23.0%
Midlothian	22.5%
Moray	17.2%
Motherwell and Wishaw	26.1%
North Ayrshire and Arran	29.3%
North East Fife	18.4%
Ochil and South Perthshire	21.7%
Orkney and Shetland	12.2%
Paisley and Renfrewshire North	22.0%
Paisley and Renfrewshire South	25.2%
Perth and North Perthshire	19.7%
Ross, Skye and Lochaber	18.0%
Rutherglen and Hamilton West	23.0%
Stirling	18.8%
West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine	9.9%
West Dunbartonshire	26.5%

local-child-poverty-statistics-full-report