Tag: Child Poverty Practice Accelerator Fund

Investment to help children and families

Local anti-poverty and cost of living initiatives set for cash boost

A total of 21 projects that pilot approaches to help to eradicate child poverty and boost incomes will be backed by almost £1.9 million across Scotland.  

Through the Child Poverty Practice Accelerator Fund, 19 regions will benefit from new projects designed to support communities with the cost of living.  

This includes:   

  • placing a debt and welfare adviser in 11 primary schools in Perth and Kinross  
  • providing energy bill vouchers and further energy cost advice to eligible parents in Argyll and Bute  
  • opening a new hub to upskill workers and increase incomes through work in Stornoway  
  • a mobile ‘Dad’s Barber’ which will offer free haircare in South Ayrshire, also opening the door to wellbeing support   

Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said:  “Eradicating child poverty, supporting families and giving children the best start in life are the guiding principles of this government. That’s why we are investing in local anti-poverty measures across the country, helping to improve services that are in the heart of communities.   

“Our efforts are already having a good impact on household finances, be that through free prescriptions, free bus travel for under-22s or the removal of peak rail fares. The Scottish Child Payment is also playing a key role in ensuring Scotland is the only part of the UK to see relative child poverty rates fall last year.  

“Our draft Scottish Budget 2026-27 goes a step further, making landmark interventions in our attempts to tackle the root causes of child poverty, while supporting the newest Mums and Dads with a premium payment for those eligible with children under one during 2027-2028, and guaranteeing the strongest package of financial support in the UK, putting more money in people’s pockets.”  

The draft Scottish Budget 2026-2027 includes plans to invest £8 billion through the social justice portfolio to tackle the root causes of child poverty, support vulnerable people and ease the cost of living.  

This is the third year the Child Poverty Practice Accelerator Fund has supported local projects. It is used to invest in local authorities and health boards to innovate and improve community-based anti-poverty initiatives, and to test their efficacy.    

Through Round Three, running between 2025 and 2028, £1, 885,879 will support 21 projects across 19 local authorities:   

  • Aberdeen City Council  
  • Angus Council  
  • Argyll & Bute Council  
  • City of Edinburgh Council  
  • Comhairle nan Eilean Siar  
  • Falkirk Council  
  • Fife Council  
  • Highland Council (2 projects)  
  • Midlothian Council  
  • Moray Council  
  • NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde  
  • North Lanarkshire Council  
  • Perth & Kinross (2 projects)  
  • Renfrewshire Council  
  • Shetland Islands Council  
  • South Ayrshire Council & Health and Social Care Partnership & NHS Ayrshire & Arran  
  • South Lanarkshire Council  
  • West Dunbartonshire Council  
  • West Lothian Council  

More funding to tackle child poverty

Increased support for local initiatives

Projects aimed at tackling child poverty across the country will receive increased, multi-year funding thanks to a boost from the Scottish Government.  

Successful applicants to the third round of the Child Poverty Practice Accelerator Fund, now worth more than £1.8 million, will receive grants of up to £100,000 over two years to improve local services.  

The Scottish Government has already invested over £1.4 million to support 21 projects across Scotland over the first two rounds of the fund, having launched in 2023. 

Previous grants have been used to improve the use of data to identify families who need support, to improve access to financial advice services, and to support parents to engage with employability services.  

The fund sits alongside other innovative measures, such as the Five Family Payments, including the Scottish Child Payment, which are helping to reduce child poverty in Scotland.  

Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “Eradicating child poverty, supporting families and giving children the best start in life are the driving principles of this government. 

“That’s why, alongside a range of measures, we have reopened this fund to help local authorities and health boards to go further, aiding the collective effort to confine child poverty to history.

“Work through the fund has previously helped maximise income and to tackle household debt, which is vital to easing the strains felt by households as the cost of living rises, and I look forward to receiving many innovative proposals.

“Our collective measures mean that Scotland remains the only part of the UK where child poverty levels are falling.  

“We should recognise that progress, but we must not forget that one child living in poverty is one too many. We are laser-focussed on addressing the challenges faced by households across the country, and this fund is another step towards eradicating child poverty.”  

Transformation Project Manager at North Ayrshire Council Tracy Simpson said: “The fund supported the council on our journey towards implementing a North Ayrshire Single Shared Assessment model.

“Being involved in the fund’s project network provided an opportunity to share learning and experiences across local authorities and ideas from others helped shape work that could be replicated at North Ayrshire.

“Expanding our network and having access to key contacts has helped us to raise awareness at a government level about the key challenges faced around data reuse to maximise customer entitlements and target unmet need across the public sector. The support provided from the Scottish Government was exceptional.”

The Child Poverty Practice Accelerator Fund strengthens the collaborative efforts to tackle child poverty between the Scottish Government and local partners. Elsewhere, through the Fairer Futures Partnerships (FFPs), the Scottish Government is working with local authorities to test and improve services to better help families living in poverty.  

Last month, the First Minister announced an extension to the FFP programme with support now available in 16 regions.

This included expanding to Dumfries & Galloway, Edinburgh, South Ayrshire, West Dunbartonshire and West Lothian, meeting a Programme for Government commitment to work to identify further adopters in addition to three new partnerships in Fife, North Lanarkshire and Shetland this year.  

The proportion of Scottish children living in absolute poverty has reached its lowest level in 30 years and the latest figures (for 2023-24) show that the rates of both relative and absolute child poverty in Scotland were 9 percentage points lower than the UK average.   

Applications are open until Friday 21 November 2025. 

Scottish Government: New approaches to eradicating child poverty

Wrap-around support delivering improved outcomes for families

Lessons learned from innovative work with families in Inverclyde are helping deliver new approaches to eradicating child poverty. 

Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville will visit Home-Start Renfrewshire and Inverclyde in Greenock today (Wednesday 29th January) to see work funded under the Scottish Government’s Child Poverty Practice Accelerator Fund, which is helping to reshape services locally and elsewhere in Scotland. 

The Social Justice Secretary will meet staff at the project as well as parents who have benefited from the work which focuses on providing early intervention to support families, particularly those with children under five and those affected by poor mental health.  

Learning from the project is supporting Inverclyde’s Fairer Futures Partnership, which is supporting local services to test and improve how they deliver services to promote family wellbeing, maximise incomes and support people towards education and into sustained employment.   

Ms Somerville said: “Eradicating child poverty is the Scottish Government’s top priority and a national mission.   

“I’m keen to hear more about how whole family, person-centred support is being developed in Inverclyde through the Child Poverty Practice Accelerator Fund and the Fairer Futures Partnership. 

“Through close partnership between Home-Start and Inverclyde Council, this project provides holistic support so that families can maximise their household incomes, and parents can improve their employment prospects through upskilling and volunteering. Putting this kind of vital support in place means that we don’t just help families in a  crisis but enable them to thrive in the longer term. 

“The Child Poverty Practice Accelerator Fund was set up to support local areas to test new ideas and innovate to improve local approaches to eradicating child poverty. I’m pleased to  have the opportunity to learn more about how this funding is informing Inverclyde’s overall approach to supporting families out of poverty.” 

National mission to end child poverty: Accelerator Fund awardees announced

More families across Scotland will get access to the help they need, where and when they need it – as local projects receive a funding boost from the Scottish Government.

Grants of up to £80,000 have been awarded to 12 projects undertaking a range of work, including:

  • helping families to access health services
  • providing money and budgeting advice
  • supporting employees to work flexibly around their family life

The Child Poverty Practice Accelerator Fund invests in innovative, local projects to tackle child poverty – a commitment in this year’s Programme for Government.

First Minister John Swinney welcomed the announcement on a visit to CentreStage, a performing arts charity in Kilmarnock.

Later today (Tuesday 8 October) the First Minister will also meet people with experience of poverty at Bute House, before leading a Parliamentary debate as part of Challenge Poverty Week.

The First Minister said: “Organisations like CentreStage demonstrate how the government is working closely with communities, local government and the third sector to help families facing challenges right now.

“My national mission to end child poverty is underpinned by the importance of this type of collaboration.

“We want to see this community-focussed approach replicated across Scotland. That’s why our Fairer Future Partnerships are expanding to five new areas across Scotland – joining up local services, offering financial advice and supporting parents into work. 

“Engaging people with experience of poverty as we build these services is at the heart of the government’s approach – and we are building on the strong foundations we have laid to end poverty in Scotland.

“The Child Poverty Practice Accelerator Fund will kick-start another 12 innovative projects across the country to give even more families the help and support they need.”

List of projects to receive grants from Child Poverty Practice Accelerator Fund:

Area Project 
West Lothian  Identifying and addressing unmet need among low-income families 
Fife Embedding income maximisation across children’s health services aligning with a preventative and proactive care programme 
East Lothian What Matters? Collecting, measuring and using data that is meaningful to families in East Lothian 
Aberdeen City Evaluation and design of lone parent employability support to inform and direct future provision 
East Renfrewshire Flexible for families employer scheme 
South Ayrshire  Exploring interconnection between child poverty and additional support needs: enhancing neurodiverse parenting support in South Ayrshire through preventative family wellbeing approaches 
Dumfries & Galloway  Accessible Financial Wellbeing Support for Priority Families Project 
Grampian Health Equity & Learning Project (HELP), identifying and addressing barriers for families accessing NHS services 
Scottish Borders  Money advice and budgeting support for families in the Scottish Borders 
Edinburgh  Challenging poverty related stigma 
Stirling  Early intervention family engagement 
Tayside Dundee Dads Rock 

Challenge Poverty Week is a Poverty Alliance initiative which has taken place every year since 2013. This year it will take place from 7–13 Oct, with organisations across Scotland coming together to highlight the injustice of poverty in Scotland. 

#CPW24

Fund to help eradicate child poverty open for applications

A fund to trial new ways of combating child poverty has opened for a second round of applications.

The Child Poverty Practice Accelerator Fund (CPAF) will provide up to £80,000 per grant towards local projects that test and evaluate new approaches which target at least one of the three drivers of child poverty reduction: improving income from employment, supporting people with the cost of living, and increasing awareness and uptake of social security benefits.

Applications can be submitted by local authorities and health boards, who may choose to work with other groups and organisations in the community.

Ahead of a Scottish Parliament debate on eradicating child poverty, Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “Eradicating child poverty is a central mission for the Scottish Government and we must find new and innovative ways to achieve this.

“Measures such as the Scottish Child Payment are estimated to keep 100,000 children in Scotland out of relative poverty this year, but we are determined to go further. The Child Poverty Practice Accelerator Fund will support projects that target the root causes of child poverty and create lasting change in our communities.

“Local authorities and health boards are already undertaking transformative work to tackle child poverty and this fund will support them to go further and share best practice, to help make child poverty a thing of the past.”

Applications are open until 5pm on Friday 12 July 2024.

Scottish Government announces funding for projects to tackle poverty and inequality

Supporting people in need

An initiative which will support low income families to take part in community action and advise on improvements in local services is being funded as part of a wider programme to help develop new approaches to child poverty.

The project, led by Midlothian Sure Start in partnership with Midlothian Council, is one of nine successful applicants to the Child Poverty Practice Accelerator Fund – which was set up to explore promising approaches or redesign services to maximise their impact on child poverty.

A Cash First Fund, which aims to reduce the need for emergency food parcels and food banks, will also fund eight partnerships to provide help to low income families. Six of these will provide new sources of cash-first support.

Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said yesterday: “These two funds exemplify the innovative approach the Scottish Government is taking to tackling poverty and delivering for the people of Scotland.

“The Midlothian partnership will give local families the opportunity to get involved in and influence local services. It will aim to identify improvements which will ensure help on offer is joined-up and people are supported in a dignified way to reduce stigma.

“Other projects will help to accelerate progress in tackling poverty, including by making it easier for people to access cash in a crisis and by connecting people with advice to prevent future hardship.

“We are investing £3 billion this financial year to tackle poverty and protect people from the cost of living crisis. We are taking all the action we can to support people within our limited powers and fixed budget.”

Cash First Fund: successful proposals

AreaLead partner
AberdeenAberdeen Voluntary Action (TSI)
AberdeenshireAberdeenshire Council
EdinburghEdinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership
FifeFife Council
GlasgowGlasgow Centre for Population Health
North LanarkshireNorth Lanarkshire Council
OrkneyVoluntary Action Orkney (TSI)
West DunbartonshireWest Dunbartonshire Council

Child Poverty Practice Accelerator Fund: successful proposals

AreaProject
Aberdeen CityData driven identification of households experiencing child poverty to inform and direct intervention and support.
Argyll and ButeEvaluating the usefulness of third-party datasets for identifying communities in need of financial support.
EdinburghIncome Maximisation Outreach
InverclydeParent Centred Early and Intensive Intervention – supporting parents with children and babies under 5 years
MidlothianMidlothian Peer Research – A Case for Change through a Place Based Approach Building Skills and Influencing
MorayImproved identification of families affected by disability and delivery of support to maximise income
North AyrshireNorth Ayrshire Single Shared Assessment (NASSA)
Perth & KinrossBeyond Emergency Support to Sustainable Livelihoods – Capacity Building Programme for Local Communities
South LanarkshirePaths out of Poverty’ – empowering parent/carers of disabled children through innovative, holistic, strengths-based approach.