Michelle, a mother of three from Edinburgh has shared the impact Scottish Child Payment is having in her daughter’s life
“One of my daughters has autism and ADHD, and Scottish Child Payment allows me to do activities that calm her down and make her happy and that makes a massive difference.”
Figures released yesterday reveal that Michelle’s daughter is just one of 326,255 children who are actively benefiting from Scottish Child Payment.
Scottish Child Payment is unique to Scotland and provides financial support for families, helping with the costs of caring for a child. It is a weekly payment, currently worth £27.15, for every eligible child that a parent or carer looks after who’s under 16 years of age.
Michelle said: “Scottish Child Payment is something that helps you and helps your children when you’re in a difficult financial situation.
“I think there’s sometimes a stigma around applying for it, especially as a single mother, but I highly recommend that those who have yet to apply for it do so.”
Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “Eradicating child poverty is the Scottish Government’s top priority and a national mission.
“Today’s figure show that the Scottish Government is supporting 233,040 individual clients and 326,255 children throughout Scotland, with over 7.5 million paid out in Scottish Child Payment.
“These payments are actively improving the lives of hundreds of thousands of children in Scotland – helping their families to access essentials and experiences they might otherwise miss out on because they live on a low income.
“In the coming year it is forecast we’ll invest a further £471 million, ensuring that this support continues to reach even more families and children who need it.”
We would urge those who are thinking of applying for financial support, to check their eligibility and start their application today.”
The team at Amazon in Dunfermline has donated £3,000 worth of ride-along push cars to Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity.
Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity supports children facing potentially life-changing visits to the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People (RHCYP). The charity provides reassurance, distraction and fun for children during their hospital visits.
One way the charity provides distraction is through the ride along push cars for children’s travel around the hospital, including to operations and appointments. To support the initiative, Amazon in Dunfermline has donated 50 push cars worth £3,000.
Kate Dixon, from Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity, said: “We are grateful to welcome the donation of push cars from our friends at Amazon in Dunfermline.
“We know that the environment around us can have a profound effect on wellbeing and mood and that’s why we create a welcoming space with fun activities for families and children visiting the hospital.”
“Donations like this allow our team to reimagine the hospital environment, making it fit for even the most active imaginations. Thank you to the team at Amazon in Dunfermline for bringing such positivity to what can be a stressful and scary experience.”
The donation of push cars is part of Amazon’s ongoing support for Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity. Since 2023, Amazon has provided support to Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity by taking part in the charity’s ‘Kick Off’ football fundraising event, and with employees volunteering their time at the hospital. Last year, the team from Amazon in Dunfermline also donated kits which included toys and crafts.
Jamie Strain, General Manager at Amazon in Dunfermline added: “We have a longstanding relationship with the team at Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity and we’re pleased to once again support the team and bring joy to patients with the donation of push cars.”
Community donations and employee volunteering are just two of the ways Amazon supports the communities where it operates. Amazon co-founded The Big House Multibank in Fife with former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown to support to families in need.
The Multibank network has now donated more than 3 million surplus goods to over 400,000 families across Scotland, Wales, Greater Manchester, and London.
Amazon has supported more than 700,000 students across the UK with free STEM education programmes through Amazon Future Engineer and helps community organisations transport meals and other essentials to families in need through its pro bono logistics programme, Amazon Local Good.
Amazon partners with Comic Relief and is the official home of the charity’s iconic Red Nose.
Together with its employees, customers, and partners, Amazon has raised over £4.8 million to fund projects that support people across the UK, and around the world.
Dobbies Garden Centres is inviting children to come along to its free-to-attend Little Seedlings Club, taking place in its Edinburgh store this June. This hands-on workshop will spotlight garden tools and the summer gardening jobs that these tools can be used for, followed by a fun activity.
Dobbies’ Little Seedling Club offers free, fun and educational monthly sessions for children across the country. These workshops involve hands-on activities where children can come together and learn about a variety of different topics in a friendly group setting.
Garden Tools is taking place at the Edinburgh on the morning of Sunday 1 June, where children will learn about key gardening tools, from the history of the very first tools used during the Bronze Age, to the kinds of things they help us with when it comes to growing plants and looking after gardens and green spaces.
Attendees will then find out what gardening jobs can be done this summer, from watering to pruning and planting, with advice on the best tools for the jobs, before getting the chance to make their own watering can-inspired art.
Dobbies’ Events Programme Manager, Ayesha Nickson, is excited to welcome families across the UK along to this fun-filled event. She said: “Our Garden Tools Little Seedlings Club workshop at our Edinburgh store has been designed to engage children and get them curious about gardening.
“Our free monthly sessions involve games and a crafting activity where children can make something to take home to keep the fun going.
“Dobbies is a great place for families to come together, whether it’s to experience our free Little Seedlings Club, to let off steam in the soft play, or enjoy a delicious treat in the restaurant where children can eat for £1.”
Children can now plant and grow with their favourite Disney characters and Dobbies has everything young gardeners need to celebrate National Children’s Gardening Week (24 May – 1 June) in style, with a touch of Disney magic.
The collection now available to shop in-store and online features gloves, tools, kneeling pads, aprons, and plenty more. Available to choose from in a variety of beloved Disney prints, letting every little gardener pick their favourite character and build their perfect set.
To find out more and book a space on the Little Seedlings workshop at Dobbies’ Edinburgh store, visit www.dobbies.com
New annual figures from Trussell show that almost 240,000 emergency food parcels were provided by food banks in its community to people facing hunger in the past year across Scotland – equivalent to one parcel every two minutes
Alarmingly, more than 140,000 of these were for families with at least one child
The charity says this should be a ‘wake-up call’ for the Scottish and UK governments to strengthen the social security system and re-think cuts to welfare that risk forcing more people to food banks
New figures released by Trussell reveal that nearly 240,000 (239,503) emergency food parcels were provided to people facing hardship across Scotland between April 2024 and March 2025. This is equivalent to one parcel every two minutes and double (+101%) the number of parcels provided a decade ago.
The annual figures also show significant numbers of parents struggling to afford the essentials, with more than 140,000 (140,221) parcels distributed to families with children. The number of parcels provided to children has more than doubled (+111%) compared with a decade ago.
Many food banks in the Trussell community are now reporting severe levels of hardship that are ‘heartbreaking’, with some parents forced to ration their own food to ensure they can feed their children, as well as people in such desperate situations that they open food parcels and eat before leaving the food bank.
The charity reported a dip (-10%) in the total number of emergency food parcels provided across Scotland compared with the previous year, but the need for emergency food is still persistently high.
Lori Hughes, Project Manager at Perth and Kinross Foodbank, said:“Our food bank has distributed 4,089 emergency food parcels this year to individuals, couples and families across Perth and Kinross – that’s over 100 more than the previous year. We are seeing far too many people experiencing hunger and hardship in our local communities, forced to turn to us to help them through difficult days.
“People are crumbling under the strain of rising costs of essentials, benefit delays, debt, insecure housing, and the ongoing impacts of physical and mental health conditions. Families, disabled people, people in work, single parents, no-one is immune.
“Donation levels are not keeping up with the level of need and that in turn places pressure on us as an organisation. It’s not right that anyone in Scotland should be left with no other avenue than to turn to emergency food aid and the support of charities to feed their families.
“Food banks are a lifeline, but they shouldn’t need to exist in the first place. While we campaign for change to prevent people from needing to use a service like ours, we will continue to support people who need us.
“If you can, we would encourage you to play your part either by donating food or funds to your local food bank to ensure everyone is heard and no-one goes hungry. Hunger and hardship can only be defeated by coming together, and nobody in our communities should be struggling to put food on the table.”
With MPs soon to vote on the UK government’s proposals to cut essential support for sick and disabled people, Trussell is warning that these changes could force even more people to turn to food banks to get by.
Disabled people are already over-represented at food banks, with three in four of people referred to a food bank in the Trussell community saying they or a member of their household are disabled, placing them at the highest risk of hunger and hardship.
The charity is urging the government to re-think these proposed cuts and to urgently update Universal Credit to ensure that everyone has enough money to be able to afford the essentials in life. This means, for starters, bringing forward the planned increase to the basic rate of Universal Credit from April 2029 to April 2026, halving the proposed cuts to welfare support and ending the two-child limit.
Without urgent and positive action, the charity says there is a real risk the UK government will oversee an increase in hunger and hardship across Scotland and more families will be forced to turn to food banks to survive.
While the UK government needs to take action now to fulfil its manifesto promise to reduce the need for emergency food, the Scottish Government also has significant powers and must use them to turn the tide on food bank use in Scotland.
Trussell says the Scottish Government should:
· Reaffirm support for an Essentials Guarantee, to ensure that Universal Credit always covers the cost of food and other essentials
· Increase the level of the Scottish Child Payment to £40 a week
· Significantly increase funding for the Scottish Welfare Fund
· Invest the Barnett consequentials* from the extension of the Household Support Fund into local crisis support
· Commit to updating its action plan to end the need for food banks, to align with the timescales for the delivery of its 2030 child poverty reduction targets
· Use all its powers across fair work, public services, taxation and social security, to progress the delivery of a Minimum Income Guarantee.**
Cara Hilton, policy manager in Scotland at Trussell, said:“Thousands of children, families, disabled people, working people, and older people from across Scotland needed to access food banks for emergency food in the past year.
“A whole generation of Scots have now grown up in a country where sustained high levels of food bank need feels like the norm and this should be a massive wake-up call to both the Scottish and UK governments and a stark reminder of their responsibilities to the people of this country.
“The recent Programme for Government was a missed opportunity to take the bold action and change we need to see in Scotland if we are to turn the tide on hunger and hardship. The First Minister has rightly put eradicating child poverty at the heart of his government’s programme, but this ambition and commitment needs to be matched with action and at scale.
“At UK level, the Westminster Government will fail to improve living standards unless they row back on their harmful policy choices on disability benefits otherwise, they risk leaving a legacy of rising food bank need. Addressing hunger and hardship for both governments must be a priority.”
Food banks need everyone to play their part to move us towards ending the need for emergency food in Scotland.
The public can help make sure food banks can continue to provide warm, compassionate, practical support and advice in the year ahead by donating food or funds to Trussell or their local food bank to help end hunger in Scotland.
Nation and Region
FY 2019/20
FY 2023/24
FY 2024/25
England
1,489,519
2,583,193
2,396,853
Scotland
238,583
264,778
239,503
Wales
136,104
187,983
171,673
Northern Ireland
45,139
90,525
77,057
United Kingdom
1,909,345
3,126,479
2,885,086
You can find out how many emergency food parcels were provided to people facing hardship in your local area on the Trussell website: campaign.trussell.org.uk/parcels-by-postcode
HIBS HEROES SUMMER CAMP IS BACK
