Stemming the rising tide of poverty across Scotland must be the defining issue of the Holyrood election, the Poverty Alliance have said, with calls for all political parties to commit to a range of ambitious and bold action to boost incomes and reduce costs.
The calls were made as the Poverty Alliance launched A Scotland for All of Us, a package of measures that all of Scotland’s political parties are being urged to back in order to loosen the grip of poverty on the lives of people across Scotland. The measures include:
Committing to a Minimum Income Guarantee, which would ensure that nobody in Scotland had an income below an agreed minimum level;
At least doubling the new Scottish Child Payment, and increasing financial support for unpaid carers and disabled people;
Extending free bus travel to more young people and to people on low incomes;
Ending digital exclusion, by providing low cost or free broadband to low income households;
Attaching conditions to all public sector grants, funding and contracts that require payment of the real Living Wage and Fair Work;
Adjusting our income tax levels and thresholds to fund greater investment in tackling poverty and exploring the use of wealth taxes;
Giving communities a greater say over how money is spent in their local area.
The manifesto is launched at a time of growing hardship across Scotland. Even before the pandemic, over one million people – including almost one in four children – were living in poverty in Scotland.
Now with many more people being swept into poverty, Scotland’s child poverty reduction targets remain unlikely to be met without more urgent action in the coming years.
Peter Kelly, Director of the Poverty Alliance, said: “In Scotland we believe in protecting one another from harm, and in the principle that every child should have every chance. Yet Scotland is also a country with unacceptably high levels of poverty and inequality.
“Addressing the rising tide of poverty that is affecting so many communities should be at the heart of every party manifesto, and with the pandemic still having an impact this is not a time for timidity.
“All parties must pledge to take the bold and ambitious action to boost incomes and reduce costs that we have set out, including committing to a Minimum Income Guarantee and to taking action to create a more just economy and labour market.
“The next Scottish Parliament must be remembered as one that reshaped Scotland for the better, that prioritised the needs of those facing poverty and inequality, and that built a Scotland not just for some of us, but for all of us.”
Anti-poverty campaigners have called for increased action from the Scottish Government to tackle the educational attainment gap, after new analysis (which can be read in full here) found stark gaps in attainment between young people from Scotland’s least and most deprived areas.
The analysis, undertaken by the Poverty Alliance on behalf of The Robertson Trust, examined the evidence on the links between poverty, education and work pathways for young people in Scotland and across the UK.
It found evidence that the poverty-attainment gap – already identified by the Scottish Government as a key priority – shows signs of increasing and risks being further compounded by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The review reveals that as of 2018-19:
Infants living in deprived areas, aged 27-30 months, are 16% more likely to display development concerns
Just over 2 in 5 young people living in the most deprived areas achieve one or more Higher when leaving school (43.5%) compared to almost 4 in 5 young people living in the least deprived areas (79.3%)
Inequalities continue into post-16 education and work pathways with one in ten school leavers living in the most deprived areas in Scotland unemployed nine months after the end of the school year, compared to 2.6% of young people in the least deprived areas.
Despite a range of policies, strategies and initiatives having reformed the Scottish educational and employment landscape over the last six years, most notably the expansion of early learning and childcare and the Scottish Attainment Challenge, the review highlighted Covid-19’s disproportionate impact on single parents and low-income households.
Emerging evidence has also shown the negative impacts of the pandemic on the educational outcomes for children and young people from deprived areas due to the digital divide and lack of access to educational related resources.
Income inadequacy prevents children from low-income households being able to fully participate in education and initiatives seeking to reduce the attainment gap should put reducing financial barriers at the centre.
The review also highlights the importance of initiatives like one-to-one tutoring, mentoring and careers education targeted at young people living in more deprived areas; initiatives that, the review concludes, are currently lacking in Scotland.
Poverty Alliance Director, Peter Kelly, commented:“Scotland is a country that believes that every child should have every chance. However this review makes clear that too many of our young people are seeing their life chances restricted by poverty. The educational attainment gap is stark in Scotland, and is an injustice that we cannot allow to continue.
“We know that the pandemic is compounding the gap. But we also know the action that we have to take to loosen the grip of poverty on the lives of families across Scotland, and to ensure that every young person in Scotland has access to the same opportunities.
“That means using every lever at our disposal to boost family incomes, as well as increasing support for interventions like one-to-one tutoring and mentoring for young people from low-income backgrounds.”
Chief Executive of the Robertson Trust, Jim McCormick, added:“At The Robertson Trust, we are keen to understand how best we can maximise the contribution of education and fair work in reducing poverty.
“This report not only highlights the stark differences in educational experiences that children and young people from different backgrounds face across Scotland but also where some of the evidence gaps currently exist when it comes to what works and why.
“Although many of the findings will be familiar to those working tirelessly to narrow the attainment gap, this analysis shines a bright light on the disproportionate impact Covid-19 has had on those already most affected. This is particularly concerning given the clear link between childhood disadvantage, low educational attainment and future poverty.
“We will use the findings to help us shape our own role as an independent funder in this area and it is our hope that the review will stimulate renewed commitment to act across Scotland.”
Chancellor’s statement welcomed by Scottish Secretarybut Scottish Government saysthepackage is a huge opportunity missed.
The Chancellor yesterday set out the next steps in the UK Government’s strategy to secure Scotland’s economic recovery from coronavirus – announcing a “Plan for Jobs” to level up, spread opportunity and unite the UK.
Rishi Sunak outlined how he would focus on protecting, supporting and creating jobs as the UK enters the next phase in its recovery following the outbreak.
Delivering his Summer Economic Update, he said: “Our plan has a clear goal: to protect, support and create jobs. It will give businesses the confidence to retain and hire. To create jobs in every part of our country. To give young people a better start. To give people everywhere the opportunity of a fresh start.”
As part of a series of landmark measures the Chancellor announced that the government will:
support jobs with the Job Retention Bonus to help businesses keep furloughed workers. UK Employers will receive a one-off bonus of £1,000 for each furloughed employee who is still employed as of 31 January 2021.
expand Worksearch Support including a Flexible Support Fund and a £2 billion Kickstart scheme to subsidise jobs for young people
create jobs in the construction and housing sectors through funding to decarbonise public sector buildings, a demonstrator project to decarbonise social housing and funding to support research and development for Direct Air Capture (as announced by the PM on 30 June)
protect jobs with VAT cuts for hospitality and tourism, as well as a Eat Out to Help Out discount scheme.
The Summer Economic Update confirms an additional £800 million of Covid-19 funding for the Scottish Government through the Barnett formula.
The UK Government is now providing £4.6 billion through the Barnett formula to help the Scottish Government support individuals, businesses and public services through Covid-19.
Rishi Sunak said the plan for jobs was the second phase of a three-phase plan to secure the UK’s economic recovery from coronavirus.
The first phase, beginning in March, focused on protection with a £160 billion package of support – one of the largest and most comprehensive economic responses in the world. In Scotland this package has so far protected more than 620,000 jobs, helped thousands of businesses and paid £425 million to 146,000 self-employed people.
The Chancellor outlined that following the second phase focusing on jobs, there would come a third phase focusing on rebuilding, with a Budget and Spending Review in the autumn.
Speaking about the impact for Scotland, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: “Since this crisis started, our wide-ranging package of support for Scotland has protected more than 620,000 jobs, thousands of businesses and paid £425 million to self-employed people.
“Today I’ve set out our plan to protect, create and support jobs across Scotland – to level up opportunity, safely reopen our economy and strengthen the Union.
“With a massive funding boost for Jobcentre Plus, doubling the number of work coaches, more people will now benefit from personalised and tailored job support. We’re investing £800m through the Barnett formula, giving Scotland the funds to create green news jobs. And we’re protecting the thousands of existing jobs in the hospitality sector with a cut to VAT and the Eat Out to Help Out scheme.”
Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said: “The measures announced by the Chancellor to support the country’s post-coronavirus economic recovery delivers for all parts of the UK.
“The UK Government’s ambitious plan for jobs, with its strong emphasis on our young people, is great news for young Scots.
“The VAT cut for tourism and hospitality will be a huge boost for Scotland. It is now absolutely essential that Scotland’s world-class tourism and hospitality industry can properly open for business.
“The stamp duty cut gives a helping hand to the housing market and building trades in England. I urge the devolved administration to use their powers to do the same in Scotland.
“And, thanks to UK Government spending decisions in the rest of the UK, Holyrood will get a £800 million cash boost, bringing their total additional coronavirus support funding to £4.6 billion.”
“The Chancellor has set out a fantastic package of support. The devolved administration now need to play its part and show they are serious about Scotland’s economic recovery.”
Responding the UK Chancellor’s Summer Statement, Scottish Finance Secretary Kate Forbes said: “We called for an £80bn stimulus package to build a strong, green and inclusive economic recovery and while there are elements in this announcement to be welcomed, in particular the measures on VAT for tourism and hospitality, overall this
“It falls well short of delivering what is needed to boost the economy and protect jobs.
“There is no new capital spend, no extension to the furlough scheme for hard-hit sectors and no further support for households in financial difficulty. A half price meal out does not help those struggling to put food on the table.
“Many of the initiatives are short-lived and do not provide long term certainty for business or households. Instead they will simply push the problems back to the end of the year when we will also have to deal with the end of the transition period with the EU.
“Despite announcing new funding measures worth up to £30bn today, most of it bypasses devolution and does not provide the Scottish Government with the funding we need to enable us to tailor an economic response that meets Scotland’s needs.
“Like all governments, we are facing huge spending pressures but we do not have the tools that others have to meet them. Along with the Governments of Wales and Northern Ireland, we set out a reasonable, proportionate set of new financial powers that would enable the Scottish Government to respond effectively.
“Regrettably, the UK Government has turned a deaf ear to those needs.”
Andrew McRae, Federation of Small Business’s (FSBx) Scotland policy chair said: “Good news has been in short supply for nearly four months. We needed action to help protect jobs and stimulate local economies across Scotland and that is exactly what the Chancellor has set out to do.
“However, it should be noted that there are many small businesses that were not supported by the Chancellor’s package – with company directors once again overlooked. Given these businesses have had little to no support in over 100 days, FSB is hoping that support can be provided in the near future.”
On the “kickstart” jobs scheme, Andrew said: “The jobs scheme will hopefully prevent a lost generation of young people, but for it to work in local economies, it must focus on the small employers who employ around one million people in Scotland. We can’t have a situation where local businesses are behind a queue of big corporates because of a target-driven approach.”
On the temporary VAT cut for hospitality and tourism sectors, he added: “Reducing VAT in sectors hit especially hard by the pandemic is an astute move. It will make everyday activities like grabbing a coffee and cake more affordable for budget conscious consumers – while making the country a more attractive destination for tourists home and abroad.”
On the discount to encourage people to eat out, Andrew said: “Scotland is fortunate to have an array of fantastic food offerings in restaurants, cafes and pubs across the country. We need to encourage more people to get back out into the community and spending money, so any moves to do this are welcome.”
The Poverty Alliance has also responded to the Chancellor’s Summer Statement. Peter Kelly, Director of the Poverty Alliance, said:“Young workers have been hard hit by Covid-19 job disruption, so the Chancellor’s announcement of a kickstart jobs scheme is welcome.
“But as the pandemic has highlighted, for too long people have been locked into poverty by low pay and insecure work.So these jobs should pay at least the real Living Wage and should have been accompanied by measures to tackle the precarious work that too many young people have to rely on.
“Part-time jobs that pay only the minimum wage cannot be a long-term solution to the problems in our labour market.
“Our recovery should be based on principles of fair work; that means redesigning jobs not reinforcing current problems.
“With the confirmation that the Job Retention Scheme is to end in October, the statement was an opportunity to fix our social security system before an expected surge in applications in autumn.
“Increasing the numbers of Work Coaches is welcome, but if we want our economic recovery to be a recovery for all, we need a social security system that loosens – not tightens – the grip of poverty on people’s lives. That means ending the benefit cap, making advance Universal Credit payments non-repayable, and ensuring that benefits actually meet people’s needs. “There is still time to make these changes before October and we urge the government to make them.
“The announcement of vouchers to support the hospitality sector falls short of expectations. At a time when more people than ever before are relying on emergency help from food banks, it is action to put cash in people’s pockets that is required, not the offer of a £10 discount on eating out.“
Statutory Sick Pay will be made available from day one when self-isolating, instead of day four, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced yesterday – but poverty campaigners say this won’t be enough to protect workers.
The move will be included in emergency legislation to deal with coronavirus.
Updating Parliament on the Government’s response, Prime Minister Boris Johnson told MPs: “I can today announce that the Health Secretary will bring forward, as part of our emergency legislation measures, to allow the payment of Statutory Sick Pay from the very first day you are sick instead of four days under the current rules.
“No one should be penalised for doing the right thing.”
Explaining the rationale for the measure, the Prime Minister had earlier said: “We are not at the point yet where we are asking large numbers of people to self-isolate, but that may of course come if large numbers have the symptoms.
“If they stay at home, they are helping to protect all of us by preventing the spread of the virus.”
The change will be a temporary measure to respond to the outbreak and will lapse when it is no longer required.
Statutory Sick Pay is paid by employers, who will know the reason their staff are giving for not being at work and already have some discretion to accept different forms of evidence as proof of sickness.
There is a range of support in place for those who do not receive Statutory Sick Pay, including Universal Credit and contributory Employment and Support Allowance. The move will be included in emergency legislation to deal with coronavirus.
The UK Government has announced it will extend statutory sick pay to start on the first day of being off to enable people to self-isolate in response to the Corona virus. But this won’t be enough to protect workers, says the Poverty Alliance.
Peter Kelly, Director of Poverty Alliance said: ““While we welcome the much needed extension of statutory sick pay, this will not be enough to protect workers who may need to self-isolate in response to the virus.
“Statutory sick pay should be significantly increased from its current level of £94.25 to reflect the cost of living, and the qualifying wage of £118 should be removed.
“If the Corona virus continues to spread at its current rate there is a high risk that many more people will be swept into already staggering levels of poverty in this country.”
“The challenges of responding to the virus highlight existing failings in both the labour market and social security system. Workers on zero hours contracts will have no access to sick leave and have been recommended to apply for Universal Credit. But we know that the five week wait for first payments of the benefit is already driving destitution.
“Immediate safeguards should be introduced for workers who are deemed as self-employed or are on zero or short hours contracts and the scandalous and unnecessary wait for Universal Credit should be brought to an end.”
The TUC has been campaigning for everyone to get sick pay from day one, no matter what they earn.
They are calling on the government to introduce emergency legislation that:
Gives every worker the right to statutory sick pay from the first day of absence
Scraps the minimum earnings threshold for statutory sick pay
Increases the weekly level of sick pay
Ensures that sick pay is paid to workers having to self-isolate
Provides funds to ensure employers can afford to pay sick pay and additional support to those who miss out
Sign the petition calling for sick pay for every worker from day one.
With all the votes now counted, the Conservatives now have a clear majority at Westminster. They have 365 seats, while the Labour Party had a disastrous night – their worst since the 1930s.
But while England voted to ‘get Brexit done’, it was a markedly different story north of the border where the SNP cemented their position as the dominant force in Scottish politics, winning 48 of the 59 seats- a rise of 13. Continue reading Comments on the general election result
Poverty campaigners have published their demands for the next UK Government, with calls for a range of policy commitments to help stem the rising tide of poverty.
In Righting the wrongs: A manifesto to tackle poverty, the Poverty Alliance urge the next UK Government to put solving poverty at the heart of all that it does, including by creating a more compassionate social security system, building a labour market that works for everyone, and protecting people on low incomes from the effects of Brexit. Continue reading Righting the Wrongs: Poverty Alliance launches general election manifesto
A brand new benefit will provide eligible families with £10 a week for every child under 16, with introduction for under sixes starting by early 2021. Poverty campaigners have welcomed the announcement.
The Scottish Child Payment will give more immediate support to eligible families who need it most, as almost 60% of all children in poverty live in a family with a child under the age of six.
It will be delivered to all remaining eligible families with children under 16 by the end of 2022, with no cap on the number of children in families.
When delivered in full, 410,000 children could be eligible for the income supplement – over a third of all children. It is estimated it will lift 30,000 children out of relative poverty by 2023/24.
For a family with two children under the age of 16 this new payment would mean additional support of more than £1,000 a year.
Communities Secretary Aileen Campbell said: “Scotland is facing a spike in child poverty as a result of welfare cuts imposed by the UK Government.
“We will not stand by and simply watch that happen. We will act.
“We will help families with £10 per week for every eligible child under 16 years old in Scotland, with over a third of all children benefitting.
“That can make a massive difference to thousands of children across Scotland – and tackle child poverty head on. It will mean more families are able to make ends meet.
“Almost 60% of all children in poverty live in a family where a child is under six years old, which is why we will deliver the payment for this group first.
“The Scottish Child Payment will not only help raise children out of poverty but is also designed to help prevent those just above the poverty threshold from sliding under.
“This is a real preventative measure that will tackle child poverty head on in Scotland and help mitigate against continuing UK Government austerity.
We’re using new social security powers to tackle child poverty in Scotland.
The new Scottish Child Payment will give eligible families £10 a week for every child under 16. pic.twitter.com/uWZj59iUmQ
Naomi Eisenstadt, the First Minister’s former Independent Advisor on Poverty and Inequality said: “The best way to help children out of poverty is to get money into parents’ pockets so I am absolutely delighted that the Scottish Government is introducing the Scottish Child Payment.
“It’s great to see the Scottish Government taking such ambitious and direct action to shift the curve on child poverty.”
The payment will be administered by Social Security Scotland alongside the existing programme of devolved social security benefits.
Ms Campbell added: “We understand this may have an impact on the timetable for the delivery of devolved social security benefits. But we believe it is worth it to introduce a visionary new benefit that will make such a big difference to so many lives.”
Responding to the announcement of the new Scottish Child Payment, Peter Kelly, Director of the Poverty Alliance said: “Amid a rising tide of poverty, the new Scottish Child Payment will act as a lifeline for families struggling to stay afloat. An additional £10 per week will help unlock tens of thousands of children from poverty and underlines the important role that Scottish social security powers have to address poverty.
“The early introduction of the new payment in 2020/21 for families with children under six is particularly welcome, and shows what can be done when there is political will to address poverty.
“As a society that believes in justice and compassion, with a Parliament that has unanimously supported action to tackle poverty, today is an important milestone. Those who experience poverty, and the organisations that support them, have been listened to and action is being taken. Today has shown that we can use our social security powers for a purpose; loosening the grip of poverty on people’s lives.”
The payment will be available a year earlier to under sixes than set out in the Scottish Government’s Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan.
It will be paid monthly and increase annually in line with inflation.
Disability Assistance for Working Age People, the Scottish replacement for Personal Independence Payment, will be delivered in early 2021, as already outlined to Parliament. Disability Assistance for Children and Young People will be delivered in summer 2020 also as announced.
However it is expected that Disability Assistance for Older People will need to be introduced in 2021, rather than winter 2020 as originally planned.
Scottish Carer’s Allowance will be put back a few months to early 2022. The transfer of benefit cases from DWP to Social
Security Scotland is expected to be completed by 2025 rather than 2024.
Further assessment on the impact of introducing the new benefit, including on IT systems, staffing, and supplier services, will be carried out over the summer and reported to Parliament.
The two-year programme will fund six community organisations to develop their own evidence to influence change in their communities – and to take forward actions for improvement. The research evidence generated by the community organisations will be brought together through a new website and used to help shape policy at a national level across Scotland.
Community-led action research is where the community decides on the issue to be researched, designs and carries out the research, and makes use of the results.
This makes community-led action research different from traditional research which tends to be conducted on the community by researchers from outside the community.
A new website, www.knowledgeispower.scot, will bring together the experiences of the six projects, and will highlight how community-led action research can be used across Scotland to support communities to take action on the issues important to them.
In 2018 SCDC and the Poverty Alliance jointly published ‘Knowledge is Power’. This report was the result of series of conversations with community organisations about what is needed to support them to undertake their own research into the issues that affect them, or the opportunities they want to pursue. This work has now come to fruition with the launch of the Knowledge is Power programme.
Maureen McGinn, The National Lottery Community Fund Scotland Chair, said: “People understand what’s needed in their communities, and we believe that when people are in the lead, then communities thrive.
“Community-led action research empowers individuals and groups to generate and use evidence to influence and achieve positive change in their community. That is why I am delighted to see National Lottery funding supporting this project along with funding from the Scottish Government.”
Fiona Garven, Director of SCDC, welcomed the new resource. She said: “We are delighted at this announcement. Community-led action research is about putting communities in control of the generation of evidence needed to support better policy making and better decision making about where resources should be targeted.
“This funding will give communities the opportunity to make their case for the changes they know they need, backed up by their own robust research evidence.”
More information and details on how to apply to be part of the programme will be announced shortly at www.knowledgeispower.scot
