SNP ministers are being called on to give more cash directly to families who are “struggling in a tidal wave of poverty”.
Campaigners at the Poverty Alliance made the plea ahead of the Scottish Government launching its second delivery plan to combat child poverty later this week.
Charity director Peter Kelly said the problem was an “injustice that we have to put right”, as he made clear there was strong support for social security payments to be increased.
The Scottish Government is already set to double the Scottish Child Payment – which goes to low income families – taking this from £10 to £20 a week.
With around one in four children living in poverty – about two thirds of whom are in households where someone works – the Poverty Alliance asked people what actions they wanted ministers to take.
One person told them: “The key is putting money in people’s pockets. People will make the best choices for their families.”
Kelly said: “Scotland is a place that believes in every child having every chance, but far too many of our children have their life chances taken away from them because of poverty.
“That’s an injustice that we have to put right – they’re unlucky enough to be growing up in families that are struggling in a tidal wave of poverty. ”
He added: “The Scottish Government has set ambitious targets to end child poverty, and there was a warm welcome for the action that they have taken up until now.
“But, as this new report makes clear, we need to do much more if those targets are to be met and, across the board, the people we spoke to are in favour of increasing cash payments through our social security system.
“That will mean looking again at increasing the Scottish Child Payment and widening out the number of eligible children, as well as increasing the adequacy of other Scottish social security payments.”
Scotland has set a legally binding target to reduce this number of children in poverty to less than 10% by the end of the decade.
Social Justice Secretary Shona Robison said there was “more we must do” and claimed the Covid-19 pandemic had worsened the scale of the problem.
The Scottish Government has invested almost £6 billion in helping low income households across Scotland over the last three years, with over a third of the cash – some £2.18 billion – being said to have directly benefited children.
The effort has seen Social Security Scotland – the body responsible for devolved benefits – establish the Scottish Child Payment and Best Start Grants, which go directly towards helping poorer families.
Robison said: “In the face of UK Government austerity, combined with the deeply damaging £20 cut to Universal Credit, our investment over the last four years to support low income families has had a significant impact.
“But there is still more we must do to deliver the transformational changes we all want to see.”
She continued: “Our second Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan will be a plan for all of Scotland. All parts of society have a role to play in our national mission to end child poverty.
“This is a collective effort across society to deliver for our future generations and break the cycle of poverty once and for all.”
Scottish Government policies already mean that families in Scotland can receive “considerable support” when compared to other parts of the UK, Robison said.
She added: “We remain the only part of the UK to have five family benefits, including the Scottish Child Payment, which was designed to tackle child poverty head on.
“Combined with our three Best Start Grants and Best Start Foods, low income families receive up to £8,400 of financial support by the time their first child turns six.
“Our budgets may be fixed, powers limited, and the scale of the challenge as we emerge from the pandemic has increased.
“However, we are determined to do everything within our powers to give the children of Scotland the opportunities they deserve to succeed.”
To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here.
