Route map: Poverty

Scottish Government will complete the national evaluation of the Fairer Futures Partnership expansion areas and use the learning to shape the 2026–2031 Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan, alongside embedding a cross-Scottish Government outcomes framework for whole-family support and strengthening monitoring/value-for-money evidence.

The third and final Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan will cover the period 2026-31 and must set out the measures that Scottish Ministers propose to take for the purpose of meeting the child poverty targets. due to be published in March 2026.

Scottish Government will publish the final Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan annual progress report for Best Start, Bright Futures.

The Human Rights tracker design group is preparing the Human Rights Tracker for publication - the development of a rights-based monitoring framework includes indicators on poverty, care prevention and lived experience.

Scottish Government is expected to publish a response to the Independent Review of Adult Disability Payment report following its final publication in July 2025, setting out any changes or mitigations that will improve financial support for disabled adults and their families, helping to reduce child poverty in households affected by disability.

The Poverty and Inequality Commission has said the Scottish Government should take action to progress towards a Minimum Income Guarantee as a matter of urgency. It should commit to implementing the steps on the Building the Guarantee: 2026-31 road map, working with the UK Government as necessary.

The UK Government have committed to ending the two child limit by April 2026.

The Care Leaver Payment is due to be delivered by April 2026.

The Poverty and Inequality Commission is recommending that further investment in social security is needed to meet the child poverty targets. They recommend that the Scottish Government should:

• Increase the Scottish Child Payment, as it has been proven to be an effective way to reduce child poverty.
• Expand eligibility for the Scottish Child Payment to include children aged 16-19 in full-time education.

Develop an options appraisal for using the new childhood assistance power in the Social Security (Amendment) (Scotland) Act, to establish the Scottish Child Payment as a stand-alone benefit, looking at how tapering can address the cliff edge for those who lose Universal Credit entitlement.

The Poverty and Inequality Commission recommend that:

• The Scottish Government should work with the Improvement Service, local authorities, the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES) and Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers (SOLACE) to take further action to urgently maximise the uptake of early learning and childcare for eligible two year olds.
• The Scottish Government should apply learning from its pilots and tests of change, and set out a clear delivery plan and timetable for delivery of funded childcare for one and two-year olds, starting with children from low-income families.
• The Scottish Government should take steps to increase the availability of school age childcare to support greater access to the labour market for families living in poverty.
• The Scottish Government should apply learning from its pilots and tests of change and set out how it intends to improve access to suitable childcare for disabled children and young people, and for children whose households include a disabled family member.

The Scottish Government have committed to free bus travel for Asylum Seekers by 2026.

The Scottish Government committed to end non-residential Social Care charges by March 2026

The Poverty and Inequality commission has recommended that:

• The Scottish Government should continue to press the UK Government to deliver on the recommendations of the Scottish Government’s Social Tariff Working Group for a flexible discount mechanism that would automatically deliver a unit rate discount for energy costs for eligible households.
• The Scottish Government should re-establish its Fuel Insecurity Fund, to provide additional support for energy costs for those living in poverty who are rationing usage or at risk of self-disconnection, with a particular focus on those facing higher fuel costs, such as those in rural areas and those whose health conditions or impairments require high energy usage.

Publication of the review of statutory debt solutions: led by the Scottish Government, this review will set out reforms to improve access to effective debt relief and repayment options, helping to reduce financial pressure on low-income families and support progress on reducing child poverty.

As a step toward housing affordability, the Scottish Government is expected to respond to Housing affordability short life working group’s final report.

The Poverty and Inequality commission has recommended that:

• As part of the review of the Ending Destitution Together strategy, the Scottish Government should audit the most relevant existing services and benefits to assess whether eligibility rules or processes and practice can be adjusted to allow access for those with No Recourse to Public Funds or restricted eligibility, including families with children, as highlighted by the ‘Ending Destitution in Scotland’ report by Fair Way Scotland.
• The Scottish Government should directly commission or otherwise enable access to specialist legal advice for families with children facing extreme hardship as a result of having No Recourse to Public Funds or other restricted eligibility due to immigration status.
• The Scottish Government and COSLA should develop guidance to ensure greater consistently in the standard of local authority support for families with No Recourse to Public Funds or other restricted eligibility due to immigration status.

The Scottish Government has committed to develop a vision and an offer for Kinship care this must include financial support and advice for kinship carers.

By 2026, learning and evidence from Scotland’s cash-first approaches (including delivery of the 2023–2026 Cash-First Plan) should be gathered and shared, with a focus on what works to prevent financial crisis and on how collaborative public–third sector partnerships can be sustained to reduce the need for food banks and strengthen support for low-income families.

By summer 2026, the University of Glasgow Centre for Public Policy will publish the findings of its 18-month governance-focused project on poverty in Scotland, adopting a person-centred approach to illuminate the cumulative impacts of siloed making on different groups across Scotland. A series of bespoke policy labs will inform solutions for more coordinated approaches to tackling poverty across a range of policy areas, the levers of which sit within the Scottish, the UK, and Local Government.

Annual progress report of Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan. This progress report should align with progress towards keeping the promise, and provide an assessment on where poverty reduction efforts are reaching families in and on the edge of care.

Identify opportunities to continue to increase workforce awareness on poverty and its impacts on children and families, this must extend to all professionals working with and alongside families including police, education, health, housing and social work.

The Scottish Government should provide an update on the roadmap towards a Minimum Income Guarantee by 2031, using the next Child Poverty Delivery Plan to take the steps towards a guaranteed decent income for families.

There must be secure long-term, sustainable funding and improved outreach for advice services, recognising them as core anti-poverty infrastructure that helps families access all the income and support they are entitled to. There must be recognition of, and investment in, childcare and social work as essential social infrastructure that supports family stability and reduces poverty, with improved pay and conditions delivered through the Fair Work National Plan.

Expand and improve funded childcare for one- and two-year-olds and disabled children, with a clear plan that prioritises low-income families and removes childcare as a barrier to work and education.

The Scottish Government must take steps to strengthen protection for children in families with no recourse to public funds, by reviewing eligibility rules, funding specialist legal advice and ensuring consistent local authority support.

The annual progress report on tackling child poverty delivery plan should provide a clear assessment on whether Scotland is on track to meet its child poverty targets. This progress report should align with progress towards keeping the promise, and provide an assessment on where poverty reduction efforts are reaching families in and on the edge of care.

Data collected through the Promise Progress Framework alongside insights from the story of progress should be used to provide a picture of where further change is needed to keep the promise.

Ensure strong policy alignment and coordination between national and local efforts including child poverty strategies, the promise implementation and wider social justice programmes so that investment and action at every level work together towards eradicating child poverty by 2030.

Child poverty rates should be firmly on a clear, evidenced trajectory toward meeting the 2030/31 statutory targets, supported by ongoing monitoring and responsive policy action across national and local partners.

The full package of Scottish social security support for families—including the Scottish Child Payment—should be achieving high take-up and strong impact, with the Scottish Government, Social Security Scotland, local authorities and advice services working together to ensure every eligible family can access their entitlements.

Parents and carers in low-income households should increasingly experience fair work as the norm, with the Scottish Government, employers, trade unions and enterprise agencies working to expand access to decent pay, predictable hours and flexible work that aligns with caring responsibilities.

Housing costs and insecurity should no longer be a primary driver of child poverty, supported by continued action from the Scottish Government, local authorities and housing providers to increase affordable housing supply, reduce homelessness and address the impact of high rents on low-income families.

Access to affordable, high-quality childcare and early learning should be available for all low-income families who need it, with the Scottish Government, local authorities and childcare providers expanding and tailoring provision so childcare does not limit parents’ ability to work, study or train.

Families facing the highest risks of poverty—such as disabled children and parents, minority ethnic families, lone parents and families with no recourse to public funds—should see measurable reductions in poverty gaps, through targeted action led by the Scottish Government and delivered with local authorities, the third sector and community organisations.

National and local strategies on child poverty, The Promise, housing, health and education should be well-aligned and working coherently, with shared accountability and collaborative investment between Scottish Government, local government, Health Boards and the third sector to maximise impact on child poverty.

Scotland must meet its statutory child poverty targets, with fewer than 10% of children in relative poverty and fewer than 5% in absolute poverty, combined low income and material deprivation, and persistent poverty, all measured after housing costs.

Scotland must meet its interim fuel poverty targets, with no more than 5% of households in fuel poverty, no more than 1% in extreme fuel poverty, and the median fuel poverty gap reduced to no more than £250 in 2015 prices (before inflation).

All workers in Scotland, particularly parents and carers in low-income households, must have access to the real Living Wage and Living Hours, supporting work as a reliable route out of poverty.

Scotland must have made substantial progress toward the commitment to deliver 110,000 new affordable homes by 2032, ensuring that increasing access to affordable, secure housing reduces housing cost pressures as a driver of child poverty.