How can we reduce the prejudice and judgement that’s too-often placed on people on low incomes?
Our research team worked with SPIRU at Glasgow Caledonian University and the Wales Centre for Public Policy | Canolfan Polisi Cyhoeddus Cymru to see what the evidence says.
One parent families are being urged to check if they are eligible for social security support this National Single Parents Day (21 March 2026).
Lone parent families make up 24% of all families in Scotland with 87% headed by women. As one of the household types most vulnerable to financial pressures, they are disproportionately affected by the cost-of-living crisis, often cutting back on essentials. Research shows 70% have no or low savings and are more likely to be in debt or arrears.
Social Security Scotland’s package of support for families – including Scottish Child Payment, Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods, could make a difference to household budgets. Updated calculations for 2026/27 show they could be worth £11,000 by the time an eligible child turns six, and around £26,000 by the time a child turns 16. This compares to less than £2,000 for families in England and Wales, where support ends when an eligible child turns four.
Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville is urging all parents and carers — including single parents — to find out if they are eligible.
Ms Somerville said: “We know that families are struggling to make ends meet and National Single Parents Day is a timely reminder that lone parent families are particularly vulnerable, but help is available.
“The Scottish Government is providing families right across Scotland with the best cost-of-living support package in the UK. This financial support can boost household incomes and help families pay for everyday essentials such as nutritious food and clothes, helping to ensure a child’s circumstances doesn’t stop them getting the best start in life.”
Satwat Rehman, Chief Executive of One Parent Families Scotland, added: “Too many single parents are still facing the daily challenge of making ends meet. With four in ten children in single parent families living in poverty, financial support such as the Scottish Child Payment and Best Start Grants can make a real difference.
“These payments provide vital help directly to families who need it most, easing the pressure of rising living costs and helping ensure children have the essentials they need to thrive. One Parent Families Scotland is proud to continue working alongside Social Security Scotland to support single parents understand and access the support they are entitled to.”
Michelle Goldie, a single mum of three from Edinburgh said: “As a single parent, Scottish Child Payment has been a huge help to me. I have three young daughters, and the extra money allows us to do activities together and enables the girls to attend clubs.
“I feel that there is a stigma around being a single parent and around asking for help which is a shame as it may put people off from applying. I encourage all parents, including single parents, to check if they are eligible for support and get the help they are entitled to. It may make all the difference.”
National Single Parents Day is celebrated annually on 21 March to recognise the dedication of single parents and highlight available support.
UP TO £400 IN SHOPPING VOUCHERS AND FREE PRODUCTS UP FOR GRABS
Aldi has announced it is on the lookout for parents in Edinburgh and the Lothians to join its new Aldi Parent Panel – offering families the chance to bag up to £400 in shopping vouchers and free products, in return for their valuable input into future family focused products and initiatives.
Aldi, who was recently named as Supermarket of the Year at the 2026 Loved By Parents Awards, is inviting parents of children ranging from babies through to teenagers to apply, with successful applicants reflecting the diversity of family life across the UK.
Those selected will be asked to take part in short surveys and product reviews at key points throughout the year, helping to inform Aldi’s family-focused initiatives and wider customer experience. In return, parents will receive £100 in Aldi vouchers every time they complete a survey, alongside free Mamia products and selected Specialbuys.
In total, 10 parents from across the UK will be selected to take part in the panel.
Julie Ashfield, Chief Commercial Officer at Aldi UK, said: “Families rely on Aldi every day, and it’s important that we continue to listen to what really matters to them. The Aldi Parent Panel gives parents from across the UK the opportunity to play a role in shaping how we support families – from the products we offer to the experience we provide in-store and beyond.
“We want the panel to reflect families of all shapes, sizes and experiences, so we can continue delivering the quality and value Aldi is known for.”
Parents who would like to apply to join the Aldi Parent Panel are invited to submit either a short written application (up to 200 words) or a short video explaining why they would like to take part.
Applications should be sent to aldiparentpanel@aldi.co.uk by Wednesday 15th April 2026.
For more information, please visit: https://www.aldipresscentre.co.uk/terms-and-conditions-for-aldi-parent-panel-the-panel/
The launch of the Aldi Parent Panel follows the return of the Mamia New Parent Fund for 2026, which will see Aldi will give away £100 vouchers every week for 12 months – totalling £5,200 – to help parents cover the cost of essentials including nappies, wipes, baby food pouches and toiletries.
A lifelong entitlement to advocacy services for all care experienced people will ensure their voices are better heard after MSPs backed landmark legislation to accelerate delivery of ‘the Promise’.
The Children (Care, Care Experience, and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill underpins delivery of the Scottish Government’s response to the independent care review, and commitment to keep the Promise. The Bill was passed in a final Stage 3 vote in the Scottish Parliament.
The Bill will extend aftercare support currently available for 16-to-26 year olds who were in care on their 16th birthday to those who had left care before that point – including help with accommodation, education, employment and wellbeing.
It includes provisions to drive reforms to the Children’s Hearing System, including remunerated Panel chairs to help reduce delays and increase capacity, to ensure the system better meet the needs of children and families.
Residential childcare providers will have to provide financial information to Ministers, and a Residential Childcare Futures Reference Group will be established.
This group will draw together partners from national and local government, social work, and organisations representing care-experienced people to ensure the needs of children and young people are foremost in residential care.
It will consider definitions of profit and provide future advice to Ministers on further regulation to limit profit.
Natalie Don-Innes, Minister for Children, Young People & The Promise said: “This legislation will deliver a very strong package of further change that will help improve the lives of people across Scotland with care experience and those who care for them. It represents a significant milestone and will accelerate progress towards keeping the Promise.
“I am grateful to everyone across the care experienced community who helped to shape the Bill, and to MSPs across the Parliament whose engagement has resulted in a legislative package that will help greatly improve the support available.
“This legislation is an essential part of our wider on-going programme of work to keep the Promise, and will help to deliver the change which the 5,500 voices that informed the Independent Care Review told us must happen.”
Discussions with MSPs from across the chamber led to Scottish Government amendments to the Bill, which will deliver enhanced support for kinship carers. These include strengthening the role of family group decision making, and making it easier for eligible kinship families to access financial, practical and advocacy support through a comprehensive needs-based assessment from their local authority.
During the Easter holidays we will be running a breakfast club for children and families 
Monday – Saturday 10:15am – 12:15pm
We will be CLOSED on Good Friday and Easter Monday so the breakfast club will be starting from the 7th April and will run until the 20th April 
Free cereal, cereal bars and refreshments provided.
The NSPCC is urging tech companies to embed technology on children’s phones that blocks nude images from being created, shared or viewed – and for the UK Government to take further action if they fail to.
This comes as the charity reveals child sexual abuse image crimes logged by Police Scotland reached record levels last year, with more than 828 offences in 2024/25 -11% higher than the previous year.
Data obtained by the NSPCC from police forces across the UK, revealed that between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 there were 36,829 recorded offences of indecent and prohibited images of children across the UK.
Across the 42 forces that provided data for both years, the number of offences increased by 9%.
Moreover, of the 10,811 crimes where law enforcement1 recorded the platform used by perpetrators, 43% took place on Snapchat alone – a total of 4,615.
Overall, Meta platforms still accounted for almost a quarter of all offences (24%), with 8% on Instagram, 7% on WhatsApp, 5% on Facebook and 4% on Messenger. However, the figures in relation to these platforms only paint part of the picture, as end-to-end-encryption (E2EE) means the scale of abuse children are experiencing online is hidden – preventing detection and leading to under-reporting on these platforms.
Without adequate safety features designed to keep children safe online across all platforms, many young people are exposed to the risk of grooming, extortion, online child sexual abuse and having intimate images shared – all of which can have a devastating impact on a child’s life, sometimes well into adulthood.
One 17-year-old boy who contacted Childline* said, “I shared a nude online and it was leaked, so everyone at school saw it. I was in a really bad way, so I moved schools. The nude pictures still come up as random people message me and blackmail me with them. I’m worried about my new friends seeing them and how the leaked nudes will impact my career in the future.”
The UK Government committed in the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy to work with tech companies to stop children in the UK from taking or sharing nude images. This new data makes it clear that tech companies are failing to prioritise young people’s safety across their platforms.
The NSPCC believes that tech companies must act now and embed effective protections for children. They argue that using existing technologies on children’s phones that blocks illegal images in real time would help prevent these crimes from happening in the first place.
If companies do not act, the UK Government must make these safeguards mandatory to ensure every child is protected from this abuse online.
This is one of the three recommendations the charity has pushed the Government to implement to make children safe – to go further in protecting children online than a social media ban alone.
Chris Sherwood, CEO at the NSPCC, said: “Children across the UK are being completely failed by tech companies that should be protecting them online. We cannot keep letting them off the hook when they can do more to prevent this from happening in the first place.
“Behind every one of these offences is a child who has been groomed, abused and manipulated. They are left to carry the trauma, whilst tech companies continue to profit handsomely.
“Technology already exists that could be deployed today to stop children from taking, sharing or receiving nude images. So, the real question is: what’s stopping them? If they continue to drag their feet, Government must show their might by stepping in and compelling them to act”.
Young people looking for support on any of the issues mentioned, can contact Childline on 0800 1111 or visit Childline.org.uk. Childline is available to all young people until their 19th birthday.
Report Remove is available in the UK to anyone under 18 to confidentially report and remove sexual images or videos of themselves from the internet.
This initiative, a collaboration between Childline and the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), offers a secure and anonymous way for young people to take control of their online presence and safety.
Supporting families at risk of poverty and improving outcomes for children are at the heart of a funding package totalling more than £7.5 million.
The Scottish Government investment spans three key programmes, each designed to address the root causes of child poverty and give families the tools they need to thrive.
The funding for 2026-27 is:
The package forms part of the Scottish Government’s new Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2026-31 which aims to support parents to increase their incomes and reduce the burden of everyday costs, on top of existing work, helping to keep an estimated 100,000 children out of relative poverty in 2026-27.
This builds on existing Scottish Government action which has already reduced relative child poverty rates in Scotland to the lowest levels in almost a decade – with rates nine percentage points lower than the UK in 2023-24.
Announcing the investment at Peat Road Medical Practice, in Glasgow, Public Health Minister Jenni Minto said: “Tackling child poverty is the Scottish Government’s top priority and we want every child to have the best possible start in life.
“That’s why this package of funding is so important. It will enhance and expand three highly impactful programmes which will help families access support, fair work in the NHS, and reduce child poverty.
“This support will allow these three invaluable projects to continue to grow and help even more families across Scotland.”
Dr Elizabeth Bryden, GP at Peat Road Medical Centre, said: “We are delighted that the Scottish Government has extended funding for Whole Family Support through General Practice into 2026/27.
“The project helps to reduce inequalities linked to deprivation and enables children and families to reach their potential.
“Being involved in the Whole Family Support programme has made a significant difference to the families in our practice. Our Family Wellbeing Worker has used their knowledge and experience to connect families with community resources and patients place a great deal of trust in them.”
Dobbies is teaming up with Gabby’s Dollhouse to bring an extra special spring themed experience to families at its Edinburgh store with a free-to-attend Little Seedlings Club on Saturday 4 April, packed with fun and creativity.
Gabby’s Dollhouse is a kid-favourite, cat-tastic show by Dreamworks that follows Gabby and her cat friends in their adventures around her magical dollhouse. Each episode is filled with fun, crafts, baking, music and problem solving.
This April, the Little Seedlings will step into the magical world of Gabby’s Dollhouse for a 60-minute Easter adventure bursting with springtime fun at the Edinburgh store. Joined by Eggy the Easter Kitty Bunny, children will discover the wonders of the season, from learning about baby animals to blooming, colourful flowers, before diving into hands-on activities and a fun filled in-store quest.
The workshop will begin by welcoming Gabby and her kitty friends, before Eggy hops in to sprinkle some Easter magic and share fascinating traditions from around the world. Little Seedlings will then set off on Gabby’s Easter Hunt, inspired by the celebration in Kitty Fairy’s Fairy Tail Garden, before learning about the bright, beautiful blooms that spring brings.
To round off the adventure, every child will create their own adorable kitty or bunny planter, filled with cat grass seeds. A perfect take-home reminder of their magical day.
Dobbies’ Event Programme Manager, Ayesha Nickson, said: “We’re delighted to welcome fans of Gabby’s Dollhouse to our April Little Seedlings Club and team up with Dreamworks on a truly special Easter workshop at our Edinburgh store.
“The interactive, hands-on event is a wonderful way for children to celebrate the start of spring and learn more about animals and flowers that come to life at this time of year. We’re looking forward to watching the Little Seedlings enjoy a magical Gabby’s Dollhouse Easter adventure at Dobbies.”
Dobbies’ Little Seedlings Club is a free-to-attend workshop that typically takes place on the first Sunday of every month in the Edinburgh store. The workshops are suited for children aged 4-10 and covers a range of seasonal topics set to inspire the next generation of gardening enthusiasts.
For those looking to get involved in Gabby’s Dollhouse Little Seedlings Club at Dobbies, and book a free space this April, visit www.dobbies.com/events.
Clearer access to advice and support, including better information on financial help and allowances are central to a newly-published national ‘vision’ for supporting Kinship Carers who look after children who cannot be cared for by their parents.
The importance of family group decision-making (FGDM) has been underlined in the final ‘Vision for Kinship Care’ that has been unveiled during Kinship Care Week, while Ministers have also lodged proposed amendments to the Children (Care, Care Experience, and Service Planning) (Scotland) Bill to strengthen the role of FGDM.
If agreed by Parliament along with the wider Bill, the amendments would give children and families the legal right to ask for FGDM to be considered as part of agreeing care arrangements for a child or young person where it is in their best interests. Local councils would have a duty to tell families about the option of FGDM during discussions over a child’s care, or during a review of existing kinship arrangements.
Meeting kinship carers at Children First’s offices in Edinburgh, the Promise Minister Natalie Don-Innes said: “Helping children to stay in their families where safe to do so is central to our aims to Keep the Promise, and I am hugely grateful to kinship carers who make an incredible difference by providing stable homes for children within their family network.
“The care, energy and commitment shown by Scotland’s kinship community is truly moving, and their input has been vital in shaping our National Vision for Kinship Care.
“When used in the right way, family group decision-making brings families together, helps children to be heard, and allows wider family networks to take part in planning and decision-making. This can help build stronger, more lasting plans, support earlier and more effective action, and reduce the need for things to be escalated.
“The stronger focus on family group decision-making in the final Vision for Kinship Care reflects what carers and their representative organisations have told us. The Children (Care, Care Experience, and Service Planning) Bill, if approved by Parliament, will further strengthen its place as one of a range of early options when considering how a child should be cared for.”
Chief Executive of Children First Mary Glasgow said: “Children First have supported the development of the Vision and worked closely with the incredible kinship carers we support to make sure their experiences shaped it.
“We were pleased the Minister could join us to celebrate Kinship Care Week and to connect with kinship carers. We warmly welcome the Vision and the plans to strengthen provision of family group decision making which are a crucial step towards ensuring all children can grow up safe, loved and connected to their wider family and community.”
One Kinship Carer, Iris*, said: “I have been a kinship carer for my seven-year-old grandson since he was four months old and I very much appreciate the Scottish Government’s attempt to make life better for kinship carers and the children they care for.
“I am very happy my grandson lives with me and, with help from my husband, my aunt, friends, family and neighbours, I am trying to give him the best possible life. But it’s not easy. Being a kinship carer is hard, often lonely, and involves rethinking your life, your career and your future.
“Kinship carers need, and deserve, all the support that can possibly be provided. Financially, practically and emotionally.”
*Name has been changed to protect the anonymity of the family.
Young Carers Action Day is an annual event that raises public awareness of young carers, the challenges they face and the extra support they need to balance their caring responsibilities and ensure they can have a Fair Future.
The day is led by Carers Trust in collaboration with its network of 135 local services that support unpaid carers. Young Carers Action Day is not only about celebrating their incredible contributions, but also about taking action to make sure young carers are given the support they need to thrive.
This year, young carers across Scotland are highlighting how caring impacts their education and calling for practical changes, including a designated Young Carer Lead in every school, college and university, to help ensure their needs are recognised, supported and understood.
Heavy caring responsibilities for young carers
Across the UK it’s estimated that over one million children and young people have caring responsibilities, with thousands in Scotland supporting parents, siblings or other relatives.
A recent UK wide survey by Opinium, published by Carers Trust, highlights the scale of responsibility many young carers hold; from helping relatives with personal care to managing medication and supporting household tasks. These findings mirror what young carers and services tell us every day.
The same research found almost half (44%) of young carers spend around 3 to 4 hours a day on their caring role, severely restricting the time they have for homework. And over one third (36%) told the survey caring had left them tired or worn out at school.
Impact of caring responsibilities on young carers’ education and attainment
Young carers in Scotland consistently tell us that caring has a significant impact on their learning. Many describe struggling to balance schoolwork with caring responsibilities, often feeling tired, stressed or unable to complete homework because of the demands at home.
Education staff, local young carer services and families also report that young carers may arrive late, miss lessons or find it harder to focus in class, not because of a lack of ability or motivation, but because of the pressures they carry.
These experiences show why greater recognition, flexibility and support in education settings are essential. Young carers are determined, capable and ambitious, but they should not have to overcome unnecessary barriers to succeed.
That’s why young carers across Scotland are calling for a Young Carer Lead; a designated member of staff who identifies and supports young carers in every school, college and university. Evidence shows that a trusted lead in education settings can make a significant difference, ensuring young carers are understood, supported and able to thrive.
Young carers take centre stage at Edinburgh Zoo
Carers Trust Scotland is partnering with The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) Edinburgh Zoo to host a Young Carers Action Day Hustings, a lively event bringing together over 150 young and young adult carers from across Scotland.
The hustings gave young carers the chance to speak directly with candidates ahead of the Scottish Parliament Election, ask questions and highlight the importance of Young Carers Action Day in their own words.
Alongside the discussion, attendees can enjoy a well earned break in a fun, supportive setting surrounded by others who understand their experiences. The RZSS Edinburgh Zoo event was the heart of the day, a chance for young carers to be heard, celebrated and connected.
Young carers were also involved in a Scottish Parliament exhibition and evening event. Head of External Affairs, Carers Trust Scotland, Paul Traynor said: “Young carers take on responsibilities far beyond what most of their peers will ever experience. Some of these tasks are incredibly demanding; physically, emotionally and mentally.
“Too often, we assume young carers are coping because they stay quiet, keep going and try to manage as best they can. But behind that strength can be exhaustion, worry and pressure no child or young person should carry alone.
“One of the biggest challenges we see is that many young carers aren’t recognised or identified early enough. When their caring role is invisible, so are their needs, and that’s when young people can slip through the cracks.
“Young carers tell us time and time again that being understood at school makes an enormous difference. When education settings know who their young carers are, recognise the realities of caring and offer flexibility and support, it helps young people feel seen, respected and able to focus on their own futures.”
Erin, a young adult carer, said: “I’ve been a carer from my mum since the age of 8. Young Carers Action Day is such an important occasion for us young carers as it is a day to give us a voice and it can make us finally feel heard.
“What decision makers do on this day has a lasting impact on us and our futures and that is something we are so grateful for.”
