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Poverty

Where is Scotland in 2024?

Currently, Scotland is the only part of the UK to have explicit child poverty targets that are legally binding. The period for the interim targets has now passed, and the statistics for 2023-24 won’t be available until March 2025, but the 2022-23 data showed that relative poverty for children sat well above the interim target of 18%. Data specific to families with a baby under one, or those with a young parent is unavailable due to sample sizes: given how expensive this stage of family life can be, these families may very well be experiencing additional pressures.

The impact of the cost of living crisis cannot be underestimated. Financial pressures are increasing levels of anxiety, and family poverty increases the risk of children entering care. Additionally, when a child enters or returns from care, it significantly impacts the family's financial situation, highlighting a gap in policy responses and service delivery. For families dependent on social security benefits, poverty is likely to be triggered or worsened when a child is taken into care. During these stressful transition periods, families often endure severe financial hardship, which affects parents' mental health and wellbeing and can sometimes lead to homelessness. This reduces parents' ability to provide a safe, nurturing home, preventing the child's return from care or prolonging their stay in care.

Scotland has declared a housing emergency. Local authorities are reporting increasingly high levels of pressure on homelessness services, rising property prices and high levels of temporary accommodation, all of which are leading to crisis situations. This is seen in a 10% increase in homeless households, including a 10% increase in the number of children experiencing homelessness. Temporary accommodation is disruptive to health and wellbeing, and it can impact on education and relationships for children, families and young people.

Poverty

Where does Scotland 
need to be by 2030?

By 2030, there will have been significant, ongoing and persistent commitment to ending poverty and mitigating its impacts for Scotland’s children, young people, families, adults and communities.

Universal family support services will be supporting and assisting families sensitively where poverty is the underlying problem.

Where does Scotland 
need to be by 2030?

The route map to get there

Focus must be on supporting babies and infants. Scotland must support families at an earlier stage, so more babies and infants remain at home in loving, nurturing relationships. The barriers preventing this must be addressed quickly with appropriate and bespoke support. For progress to be made, family support must consistently begin pre-birth and focus on the needs of families with very young children.

In line with the conclusions of Staf and The Promise Scotland’s 100 Days of Listening work, care experienced people must not be moved to a tenancy in a crisis.

Consideration should be given to extending the housing protocol to children who have grown up out of their community and Local Authority.

In Summer 2024, A Way Home Coalition will report on their review of progress made to date in delivering the youth and care leavers homelessness prevention pathways.

An analysis of the Scottish Government’s proposed ‘Care Leaver Payment’ consultation has been published and should be reviewed. The payment will provide young people leaving care with £2000 to reduce some of the financial barriers young people may face whilst moving into adulthood and independent living

The Scottish Government will review the Poverty and Inequality Commission’s report on Child Poverty Delivery Plan Progress 2023-2024 and consider how the recommendations from this report should be implemented as part of progress to meet the 2030 child poverty targets.

The Scottish Government will continue to invest in the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund to provide early help and support for families. This must include specific support to help provide practical and financial support for families in addition to emotional support. Consideration must be given to cash first approaches.

The Scottish Government's child poverty targets must be met, which require that of all children living in Scotland:

  • Less than 10% will live in relative poverty.
  • Less than 5% will live in absolute poverty.
  • Less than 5% will live with combined low income and material deprivation.
  • Less than 5% will live in persistent poverty.

The actions outlined in the Voice foundation are fully embedded at every stage to progress actions on Poverty.

What is helping?

In 2017, the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act was introduced which set out four targets to reduce the number of children experiencing the effects of poverty by 2030. Interim targets were set for 2023. Scottish Ministers must publish three child poverty delivery plans in 2018, 2022 and 2026 and report on those annually.

In 2019, the Poverty and Inequality Commission was established as an advisory, non-departmental public body which provides independent advice and scrutiny to Scottish Ministers on poverty and inequality.

In 2024, the First Minister announced eradicating child poverty in Scotland as the single most important policy objective of the current Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government is delivering and expanding a range of support aimed at alleviating poverty and meeting the child poverty targets set out in legislation. These include:

  • Uprating all Scottish benefits by 6.7% from April 2024.
  • Investing £457 million in the Scottish Child Payment, which was further increased to £26.70 per child per week – a payment expected to keep 60,000 children out of relative poverty in 2024-25.
  • Expanding eligibility for ‘Best Start Foods’ from February 2024. It is estimated an additional 20,000 pregnant women and young children are now eligible.
  • Targeted resources at mitigating child poverty and for women during pregnancy through initiatives such as the Baby Box and Best Start Grants.

The second stage of the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2022-26 included a commitment to support the work of two local pathfinders – Glasgow and Dundee – specifically designed to focus on innovation, refining, adapting and implementing new approaches to delivering person-centred solutions that may be scaled, or replicated in different localities across Scotland.

The Scottish Government’s Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan Best Start, Bright Futures, sets out actions that will be taken for the period of 2022-26 and will be overseen by the Tackling Child Poverty Programme Board. The board aims to ensure there is collaborative working in place across policy areas, including making appropriate links with relevant elements of the Hearings System Redesign.

The Scottish Government Whole Family Wellbeing Fund, a £500 million fund, aims to help family support services to make transformational system change to reduce the need for crisis intervention and shift investment towards prevention and early intervention.

In 2023-24, the Scottish Government made almost £103 million of funding available to support the continued delivery of key employability commitments through the No One Left Behind approach, which includes parental employability support and Fair Start Scotland.

Financial support for care leavers was publicly consulted on in early 2024 in the form of a ‘Care Leaver Payment’ which is proposed to deliver £2000 to those moving on from care into independent living in Scotland, with the aim of reducing some of the financial barriers young people face when moving on from care.

The Scottish Government has convened a Ministerial Oversight Group on homelessness which brings together 10 Ministers from across the Scottish Government to identify the cross-portfolio actions required to prevent and end homelessness.

The Scottish Government are working with COSLA and third sector partners on Ending Homelessness Together and Ending Destitution Together strategies. Further work is being done nationally to uphold care leavers’ housing rights and many local authorities are investing in innovative projects to ensure young people leaving care are supported into safe and appropriate housing.

The Scottish Government is providing a total of £100 million from their multi-year Ending Homelessness Together fund between 2018 and 2026.

In March 2024, the Scottish Government introduced the Housing (Scotland) Bill to the Scottish Parliament which responds to the need to improve housing outcomes for people in Scotland who mainly live in rented accommodation or face homelessness. If passed, the proposed earliest commencement of the Bill is 2025-26, with all duties not expected to commence until 2028.

Who Cares? Scotland published the first of a series of Issues Papers on housing in June 2024. This describes the housing- related concerns raised by those in touch with Who Cares? Scotland’s advocacy services and identifies a number of solutions to overcome the challenges they face.

Who must act?

Education

Education
Health

Health
Housing

Housing
Justice

Justice
Local Government

Local Government
Public Bodies

Public Bodies
Scottish Government

Scottish Government
Voluntary sector

Voluntary sector

Here is what matters to children and families

The people who support me know if and how my family are being affected by poverty and provide us with help and support if we are.

The people who support me know if my family is financially able to provide everything I need to have a happy, healthy, safe childhood, and if not, they have put plans in place to support us.

Find out more about the what matters questions here.

Also connected to this theme

Documenting decisions
Listening
Participation and engagement
Intensive family support
Universal family support
Moving on and lifelong support
Where children live
Rules, processes and culture
Legislation
Money and commissioning
Rights

Mapping

This is how Plan 24-30 relates to other frameworks and plans

Independent Care Review conclusions  Plan 21-24 priority area
the promise pgs.17-18; 47 Poverty
  Whole family support
  Building capacity
  Planning

 

 

UNCRC GIRFEC
Articles 26; 27 Safe
Concluding observations 40a; 41e (ii); 46a; 46b; 46d Healthy
  Nurtured
  Included



Plan 24-30 foundations