Poverty is a political choice, and the latest annual child poverty statistics put those choices into sharp focus. Although child poverty fell by 4 percentage points, the Scottish Government’s legally binding target of fewer than 18% of children living in poverty by 2025 was missed.
We are deeply disappointed to not see more progress. All children should have the best start in life. Yet more than one in five children are being failed and denied their right to thrive.
Even more worryingly, poverty rates appear to have increased for families with a baby.
Every parent wants to give their baby the best possible start in life. It’s heartbreaking that more than one in three babies in Scotland aren’t being given an equal chance to thrive because their families are struggling to make ends meet. At no other time in a child’s life can the harms of poverty have a greater or more lasting impact than in their first year. We are failing the very youngest members of our society.
The Scottish Government has a duty to ensure that families most impacted by poverty – ‘priority families’ – including low-income families with a baby, are not left behind. It’s simply unacceptable that families with a baby now appear to be worse off.
We want to see the Scottish Government explore a top-up payment for families with a baby under one, to target increases in income to ensure Scotland does better for babies.
We must build on the positives
Scotland is the only place in the UK where child poverty has fallen, and the only place where there has been significant investment in tackling child poverty through measures including the Scottish Child Payment. We’re seeing the impact of divergent political choices - the choice to invest in children is paying off.
Taking the single-year figure, relative child poverty decreased to 22% in 2023/24, down from 26% the previous year. This is the first full year of figures which show the impact of the Scottish Child Payment. Although we haven’t gone far enough to meet the interim target, this reduction is significant – especially in a tough economic climate. The figures reflect what families tell us, too, that the Scottish Child Payment is helping to ease financial pressures and helping parents make the choices that are right for their children.
There is reason to be optimistic that we can meet the 2030 targets if we take the necessary action now
The Scottish Government set a target of 10% or fewer children living in poverty by 2030. We can meet this target and realise a better future for children, but it’s simply impossible to do this without significant further investment in social security. As a start, the Scottish Child Payment should increase to £40 during this parliament. But this is only a steppingstone – more investment is needed.
Ending child poverty is the express priority of the Scottish Government. To achieve the ambition, it must begin to use the social security levers available to get more cash into families’ pockets. All other parties in parliament supported the creation of the 2030 child poverty targets. All our parliamentarians have a duty to push for action on social security.
We know that other actions from the Scottish Government are necessary too. Parents, especially mums, need action to improve access to decent, flexible well-paid work. The roadblocks to finding good work need to be removed too, like a lack of flexible childcare.
The Scottish Government must go much further on encouraging and incentivizing fair work, expand access to affordable, flexible and high-quality early learning and childcare, and ensure that every family and parent has access to community-based family support.
We don’t want to be here again in 2030 - having missed the targets - knowing we could and should have done better for Scotland’s children. The action we need to meet the 2030 targets must begin now.
