Call for help to address child poverty

A call for views and evidence that stakeholders may have about how well current policies and actions are working to tackle child poverty in Scotland has been announced. 

The eradication of Child Poverty is the Scottish Governments top priority. Scottish Ministers have been clear that there is no acceptable number of children living in poverty and has encouraged the nation to think big and act bold to deliver lasting solutions. In many rural an disland communities, aspects of child poverty are often hidden and so this call is an opportunity to highlight specific rural and island needs and insights.

The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 - unanimously agreed by the Scottish Parliament - set stretching targets for child poverty reduction and placed a duty on Scottish Ministers to publish three delivery plans over the life of the legislation.  

The first delivery plan, Every Child, Every Chance, covered the period 2018-22. The second and current delivery plan, Best Start, Bright Futures, covers the period 2022-26. These plans have included a focus on addressing the three drivers of child poverty reduction - income from employment, costs of living, and income from social security and benefits in kind - and on supporting families at greatest risk of poverty. 

The third and final 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. It is important that action committed is affordable, deliverable, and able to deliver impact at the scale and pace required. 

The Scottish Government is now seeking to engage with a wide range of stakeholders and partners as it begins work to develop the next delivery plan. Eradicating child poverty is a national mission and, as such, they will take action from a wide range of organisations, including national and local government, community and third sector organisations and business to deliver the change needed. This call for evidence is an opportunity for rurala nd island stakeholders to inform and influence both the strategic approach and action that will be taken in the years ahead.

Call for evidence 

This call seeks your views and any evidence you may have about how well current policies and actions are working and what new ideas or approaches might help to achieve significant reductions in child poverty in Scotland. This includes interventions that the Scottish Government should continue to support, stop or deliver differently if evidence of impact is limited; new ideas that could be implemented, including work that could be delivered at scale; and evidence from other countries that could be applied in Scotland. 

The feedback provided will inform the development of the next delivery plan and there will be opportunities for further input into the consultation process.  

In addition to written feedback, the Directorate for Tackling Child Poverty and Social Justice are planning a series of workshops and deep dives on specific issues and with particular groups. If you would be interested in participating in these sessions, please let them know by contacting: ChildPovertyConsultation@gov.scot   

Four key strategic themes have been identified: 

• Increasing earned incomes by supporting and providing opportunities for parents and carers, to enter, sustain and progress in work. This includes through the likes of employability support and the provision of essential infrastructure such as childcare and transport.

• Reducing the costs of living and maximising incomes from social security to allow families to live dignified lives and meet their basic needs. This includes through the likes of social security, affordable homes, and advice services.

• Delivering holistic and whole family support to improve outcomes and wellbeing and enable families to better engage with other services that directly increase their incomes. This includes through action focused on preventing families falling into poverty and wider community-based support.

• Supporting children and young people to reach their full potential and to break the cycle of poverty in the longer term. This includes through the likes of early years support, education, and post-school transitions.

The Scottish Government would welcome views on these themes and the cross-cutting focus on addressing the needs of families at greatest risk of poverty, in particular:  

• Do you think these are the right themes to focus on?  

• Are there other key strategic themes we should consider?  

They are also keen to hear views on any or all of the following:  

• What is working well and what actions should Scottish Government and partners either continue to do or to do more of?  

• Are there policies, actions or approaches that the Scottish Government and/or partners should either stop or do differently? 

• Are there new policies, actions or approaches that Scottish Government should consider implementing? 

• How can Scottish Government and partners work differently to ensure seamless, integrated supported for families? What prevents this?  

• What more can we do to understand the challenges being faced by the family at greatest risk of poverty, including the six priority families identified to ensure their specific and interconnected needs are met?   

• What targeted action could be taken to tackle inequalities faced by marginalised groups, to help raise their incomes and improve their outcomes? This could include specialist support for one or more groups. 

Examples of effective practice, where available, for each question would be really helpful. 

The Process 

You can share views and suggestions using the provided template here. This also includess a detailed background note to help develop responses. 

Responders are invited to share any research, evaluation or findings from consultations that they have undertaken which are relevant to this call for evidence. You can attach any published reports, research on lived experience of poverty, or internal pieces of work you may hold along with your submission. 

What will happen to responses 

Scottish Government will collate and analyse all of the feedback it receives via this written call and other planned engagement activities. This body of information will then be used alongside existing evidence and learning to inform the development of the next plan and assessed against various factors including legality, finance and deliverability.  

Please return your submission to the Tackling Child Poverty Unit at: ChildPovertyConsultation@gov.scot by 28 March 2025. 

If you have any questions, please also direct them to ChildPovertyConsultation@gov.scot.