ENDING THE NEED FOR FOOD BANKS: TRUSSELL ELECTION MANIFESTO
We are calling on the next Govt to ensure holistic, tailored advice is better funded & more accessible & for public debt collection to be reformed to stop households being trapped in poverty.
You can read more in our Trussell Holyrood manifesto here:
Fortunately, most of us don’t have to climb a hill to brush our teeth in the morning. But that’s exactly what Bishop Brian McGee did to raise awareness of communities around the world in need of clean water.
Bishop Brian is SCIAF’s Bishop President and cares deeply about poverty and injustice around the world.
Bishop Brian said: “What can be more unjust that not being able to access clean, safe water?
“This year our WEE BOX Appeal focusses on just that. In Scotland, we are blessed with some of the finest water in the world. We bathe in it, use it for cooking, and drink as much as we want, whenever we want. We take it for granted that it will always be there.
“Water is life. But for many, it’s dangerously scarce. In Ethiopia far too many women, girls and boys still have to walk for hours every day under the scorching sun. This means missed days at school, getting sick from dirty water, and in some places taking their lives in their hands just to reach water.
“Getting that big sink up the hill was a struggle. It weighed a tonne and it was blowing a hooley, but I just did it once. It’s nothing compared to the daily struggle many have to access clean water.
“Thanks to the generosity of people across Scotland, SCIAF has been funding local organisations in Ethiopia to bring clean water to communities and help people help themselves out of poverty. And we need their help again to continue to do this.”
Lent is 40 days of reflection, fasting, and prayer leading up to Easter. Each year generous Scots up and down the country give up a favourite treat such as coffee, chocolate, wine or crisps during Lent and put the money they save into a SCIAF WEE BOX.
Supporters also hold fundraising events in their schools and parishes and take on personal challenges to raise money. They then donate whatever they raise at Easter to provide a hand-up to vulnerable communities worldwide, struggling to survive due to hunger, poverty, conflict and the climate emergency.
Bishop Brian added: “I have had the privilege of seeing first-hand the transformational work that our amazing SCIAF supporters are funding in Ethiopia. It is genuinely changing lives.
“Bringing clean water closer to people’s homes helps kids get to school and improves the health of the whole family. It’s amazing the difference basic things like taps and wells can make for people’s lives.
“We know that there are still so many more people suffering in Ethiopia and across the world from extreme poverty. With support like this, we can reach more families and more communities and give them a hand up out of the challenges they face.”
This Lent, please use your WEE BOX to make a BIG CHANGE. Your support can show young people around the world that a better world is possible – one where they can survive, thrive and flourish.
For more details on how to donate, please visit www.sciaf.org.uk/weebox.
To donate £10, please text SCIAF to 70580. Texts will cost £10 plus your standard network charge.
This winter, Children First is urging families in Edinburgh struggling to make ends meet to call its national support line.
The charity’s experienced team can give confidential assistance with money worries, and thanks to extra funding from the Scottish Government, can provide emergency support to families living in poverty.
As well as immediate help, every family that contacts the charity’s support line will be offered expert debt management advice, support to access benefits, and guidance to help families build a more secure financial future.
Thanks to partners British Gas Energy Trust, the charity is also able to offer eligible families new white goods ranging from fridges to washing machines – but only until the end of February.
In 2025, the charity’s support line helped nearly 1,500 families with money worries. The team put £1.8 million back into household budgets and supported families to manage over £1 million pounds in debts.
Simon McGowan, Assistant Director at Children First, said: “We know it can feel hard to talk about money worries, but getting help early can make an enormous difference. Our friendly team listens without judgement and helps parents and carers get the support they need to make life better for their children.
“As well as immediate financial help to alleviate a crisis, we can offer practical, down-to-earth help with budgeting, benefits, debt and energy bills. And thanks to British Gas Energy Trust, until the end of February we can provide white goods like washing machines and fridges to families living without these essentials.
“We want parents and carers to know they don’t need to face their money worries alone. If you’re struggling, please get in touch. We can help you straight away.
“Call the support line team free on 08000 28 22 33 from 9am – 9pm, Monday to Friday or 9am – 12 noon Saturday and Sunday or start a webchat with the team on our website at www.childrenfirst.org.uk/supportline.”
When Amy* first called Children First’s support line, she was at breaking point. Trapped in a damp flat with two young children, suffering from postnatal depression and £190 short every month, she felt invisible and hopeless.
Children First’s support line arranged immediate food and heating support so Amy’s children could stay warm and fed. They secured £1,500 from the Home Heating Fund and negotiated lower bills, cutting Amy’s broadband by £38 per month. The team also secured £180 per month in child maintenance and connected Amy to housing, mental health and local family support services.
Amy’s financial situation improved by more than £4,500, lifting a weight off her shoulders and helping give her and her children a brighter, more secure future.
Amy said: “I felt invisible before I called. Now I feel like someone is on my side. My kids are happy, and I can breathe again.”
*Names have been changed to protect the identity of the family.
In January 2026, Children First was awarded £1.5m in funding from the Scottish Government to provide extra emergency support to families in crisis as part of the national mission to eradicate child poverty.
Find out more here: £10m emergency support for families – gov.scot
The @Morrisons food collection is this week!
From Monday until Sunday 9 February, Trussell staff and volunteers will be in local Morrisons stores raising vital donations of food.
If you can, please pop by and donate. Every item makes a difference to people facing hardship in your community.
WITH welfare and benefits in danger of becoming a political football in the Holyrood election campaign (see today’s FMQs for starters – Ed.), Scotland’s Poverty Alliance has spoken out:
Poverty Alliance Policy & Campaigns Manager Gary Christie said: “When it comes to ending the injustice of poverty and investing in a better future, the Poverty Alliance works constructively with leaders from all political parties.
“One of the things we ask of all is that they avoid creating false division between people. Very few politicians would criticise someone for using our NHS or claiming Pension Credit. So, it’s morally wrong to point at others who use our shared social security system.
“Nearly 40% of the people on Universal Credit are in work. Nearly 1 in 3 people referred to Trussell Trust foodbanks are in working households.
“We all pay into our shared public services, and we all benefit. People who don’t pay income tax contribute every time they buy something that has VAT on it. And many people on the lowest incomes in Scotland have higher tax rates than the wealthiest in society. We are all in it together.
“Instead of risking stigmatising and hurting our friends, neighbours and fellow citizens, it would be good for politicians to look at their own responsibilities first. They have the power to move towards a Minimum Income Guarantee based on fair work, strong services, and a just social security system for all of us. These must be pursued together, not traded off against one another to score political points.
“The Scottish Child Payment is a vital building block of that future. It helps give a decent start in life to more than 300,000 of Scotland’s children.
“Rather than talking about unjustly cutting some children off from that vital help, politicians can boost the value of the payment as one important stepping stone towards the Minimum Income Guarantee.”
UK Poverty 2026: The essential guide to understanding poverty in the UK
This report sets out the nature of poverty in the UK, and evaluates changes under the last Conservative-led Government.
It also sets out the scale of action necessary for the current Government to deliver the change it has promised.
Today, we’ve launched our annual state of the nation report, UK Poverty 2026. The report, which accounts for the time just before the current government took power and clearly shows the depth of the problem and the scale of the challenge.
Some of the key findings of the report include:
People in very deep poverty now make up the biggest group of people in poverty, at 6.8 million people.
This is unacceptable for the fifth richest country in the world, and it has consequences.
Overall poverty rates have flatlined since 2005/06 at just over a fifth. The longer a family spends in poverty, the worse the effects on that family.
The longer we tolerate unacceptably high levels of poverty, the worse it is for our country.
THE TIME FOR ACTION IS NOW.
We found that Britain’s poorest people are getting poorer. And poverty is hardening, not easing.
Feelings of frustration – and the need for urgent action – were evident
The lives behind the numbers — unacceptably tough, and getting harder
With a foreward from our Grassroots Poverty Action Group (GPAG), this report speaks to some of the policies that would lift hundreds of thousands of children, disabled people and other families out of poverty.
It can be done, and it has been done before. The alternative is a reality that feels harder to thrive in.
For the first time ever, Impact Arts is launching a manifesto ahead of the 2026 Scottish elections.
Our vision: A Scotland where people and communities benefit from life-transforming creativity that tackles inequalities and addresses poverty. 
CEO Fiona Doring says: “For decades, Impact Arts has seen first hand how arts-based approaches transform their lives through improving wellbeing, strengthening communities, and developing life chances.
“Ahead of the 2026 Scottish elections, we urge decision makers to recognise the arts as a vital part of building a fairer, healthier, and more connected Scotland.”
OUR MANIFESTO ASKS
Scotland’s leaders, we urge you to:
1. Recognise Creative Engagement as a Public Health Approach
2. Improve Access to Creative Preventative Mental Health Approaches
3. Ensure Access to Arts-Based Therapies for Children Facing Trauma and Poverty
4. Embed Creative, Flexible and Person-Centred Approaches into Whole Family Wellbeing
5. Support Creative Ageing to Bring Joy to Later Years
6. Increase Access to Quality Arts-Based Education & Employment Programmes
7. Support Neurodiverse Young People Through Quality Arts & Creativity Projects
8. Promote Creative Home-Making as Key to Sustaining Tenancies & Preventing Homelessness
9. Celebrate Creative Placemaking
Impact Arts urges Scotland’s leaders to embed creativity across public policy. By investing in arts-based and creative approaches, we can build a more inclusive, stronger, and imaginative society.
Explore our extended manifesto featuring references to research and commentary from Culture Counts, Arts Culture Health and Wellbeing Scotland, Voluntary Health Scotland, Social Biobehavioural Research Group, National Academy for Social Prescribing, Scotland’s Mental Health Partnership, The Scottish Government, Skills Development Scotland, Children’s and Youth Arts Advocacy (CYAA), Scottish Autism, Homeless Network Scotland, and SURF – Scotland’s Regeneration Forum.
Read the full manifesto 
https://www.impactarts.co.uk/impact-arts-launches…/
Luminate: Scotland’s creative ageing organisation
Scottish Federation of Housing Associations – SFHAYouthLink Scotland
At yesterday’s meeting of the city council’s Finance and Resource Committee (Thursday 15 January) the Scottish Greens presented an amendment which drew attention to a £15m Scottish government budget cut to community organisations and the end of Investment in Communities.
The shock proposed cut by the Scottish government risks a long list of local community groups being left high and dry as core funding for charities continues to be a pressing issue in the city (see list below).
Finance spokesperson Alex Staniforth said, “We’re glad our amendment passed at committee and officers will investigate the impact of these proposed cuts, but every time we think we’ve got a handle on cuts to the third sector some other proposal comes forward to squeeze it still further.
“The Scottish government should reflect on whether this is the best way to save £15 million given the vital work community organisations do in the city.”
List of Edinburgh organisations potentially affected:
Link to relevant part of Scot Government budget:
https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-budget-2026-2027/documents
No child should start their school day hungry. It’s simply wrong.
Find out more about the Breakfast Can’t Wait campaign, in this guest blog from Poverty Alliance member Magic Breakfast:
Budgets reflect the choices and priorities of our Governments. Our political leaders have a responsibility to use them to build an economy and society in which all people the income necessary to live in decency and dignity.
In October 2025, thousands of people from across Scotland took to the streets of Edinburgh in the Scotland Demands Better campaign march and rally, the largest anti-poverty demonstration our country has seen in decades.
They stood together to demand that politicians build a Scotland free from poverty, creating the conditions for better jobs, better investment in life’s essentials and vitally, better social security.
In this briefing, we set out how MSPs can build a better future for Scotland’s children:
