'Scotland's shame' as missed government targets 'will leave' 210,000 children in poverty

Legislation required the Scottish Government to ensure that less than 18% of children are living in relative poverty by 2023/24 and less than 10% by 2030.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, a million people north of the border, including 240,000 children, were trapped in poverty.

But the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) has concluded Scotland will miss its target "and by some way" leaving families locked in poverty unless urgent action "at scale" is taken.

If the Scottish Government, as expected, follows through with a pledge to double the Scottish Child Payment to £20 a week before 2023/24 the nation would still be four percentage points short with 210,000 children in poverty.

Without any further action, Scotland would remain five percentage points from the target, leaving 230,000 children in relative poverty.

The JRF says ministers "must take urgent action" saying its analysis "lays bare the scale of the challenge facing the Scottish Government if it is to meet its targets".

The group said: "A target is just a way of holding decision-makers accountable, albeit an important one. The more important evidence as to the human cost of missing these targets is shocking.

"Alarm bells must be ringing in the Scottish Government and Parliament because families all over Scotland need them to do more and do better."

Compared with people living in our most well off communities, according to National Records of Scotland people in our most deprived communities are 18 times more likely to have a drug-related death, They are also more than four times more likely to have an alcohol related death.

Suicide rates are three times the rate in the nation's most well off areas, while Covid-19 death rates are more than double that of the least deprived areas.

It is estimated that the rise in the Scottish Child Payment alone move would lift 20,000 children out of poverty by April 2024 but would still mean the child poverty rate was at 22%.

And if the UK Government also reversed its decision to cut £20 from Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit, this would stop a further 30,000 children from being pushed into poverty in Scotland and bring the relative child poverty rate for children to around 20%. But the nation would still be two percentage points short of the target.

Yesterday (Sunday), the Prime Minister insisted that maintaining the £20 uplift to Universal Credit is “no longer appropriate” - despite warnings the move will plunge thousands of Scottish households into poverty.

The JRF analysis comes at the start of Challenge Poverty Week – coordinated by the Poverty Alliance and supported by organisations from every major sector in Scotland which is raising fears that with the end of furlough and rising food and energy prices, many more face being swept into poverty and hardship.

John Dickie, director of the Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland said the new analysis lays out in the "starkest terms the damage poverty wreaks on children and families across Scotland".

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, who will be co-hosting a roundtable on tackling poverty today (Monday) said: “Our growing poverty rates are Scotland’s shame.

“The cost of living crisis is hitting home and we are nowhere near reaching our child poverty reduction targets. It would be a national scandal if we failed to meet the child poverty targets we set ourselves just four years ago. "This year’s Challenge Poverty Week must be more than a photo-op for Scottish Ministers. This needs to be a call to action to deliver the change we so desperately need."

The JRF's Poverty in Scotland 2021 report also highlights a "failure" to make inroads into the significant levels of poverty among the priority groups for action identified by ministers including families from an ethnic minority background, families where someone is disabled, those with a child under the age of one and single parent households.

The pre-Covid analysis found that more than 80% of children in poverty are in one of these groups. And it discovered that a "shocking" 40% (100,000) of all children in poverty now live in a household where someone is disabled.

Children from minority ethnic backgrounds make up 7% of the population yet make up 16% of all children in poverty The JRF is urging both the Scottish and UK Governments to increase the adequacy of social security in order to drive down poverty levels.

It recommends that the Scottish Child Payment is doubled as soon as possible and that an upcoming Scottish Government Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan should set out a "clear and measurable course" towards meeting their targets including a "far greater scale and pace of activity to support families in the priority groups who are most at risk of poverty".

It estimated that the UK Government’s cut to Universal Credit and Working Tax credit will slash £1,040 per year from the incomes of 450,000 families in Scotland.

The group said the cut will increase poverty in Scotland across all groups, not just families with children.

As well as reversing the cut, the report recommends reform of rules such as the five-week wait for the first payment of Universal Credit, and the two-child limit, which the group says "drive destitution and hardship" in Scotland as they do in other parts of the UK.

Chris Birt, associate director of the JRF in Scotland said a "political failure" to fail to meet the child poverty targets would have a profound human cost with tens of thousands more youngers experiencing childhoods blighted by hardship and anxiety.

“It is time for the Scottish Government to stop walking and start running, by immediately doubling the Scottish Child Payment and by significantly increasing the scale and pace of its programme to support families in priority groups.

“The responsibility for the cut to Universal Credit falls squarely at the UK Government’s door. It is a failure of both compassion and of policy. Its decision to impose the biggest overnight cut to social security in the history of our welfare state will cause immediate and widespread hardship in Scotland. With reserved powers, comes reserved responsibility. Our social security system should protect people from poverty, but the UK Government is instead choosing to condemn them to it.”

Social justice secretary Shona Robison will use a keynote speech today (Monday) to underline the Scottish Government’s commitment to tackling poverty at a conference hosted by the JRF.

It comes as ministers are due to publish its revised Fairer Scotland Duty Guidance today, which is to place a legal responsibility for poverty and inequality on certain public bodies, including Scots ministers, local authorities and health boards when making key decisions.

The First Minister signed a joint letter over the weekend with her counterparts in Wales and Northern Ireland, calling on the Prime Minister to reverse the Universal Credit cut which Ms Robison said "only serves to highlight the depth of concern across the UK on this decision which will be hugely damaging to those in poverty".

Ms Robison: “We have set out a range of ambitious actions to make ending child poverty a reality, but the decision to take £20-a-week in Universal Credit from the pockets of the people who need it most undermines so much of what we want to achieve.

“It is morally indefensible and will be a financial hammer blow for millions. We know the negative impact poverty has on people on the lowest incomes and their communities, which is why this government has declared a national mission to end child poverty.

“We are committed to addressing the longstanding inequalities that have been worsened by the pandemic. These kinds of profound effects make assessments under the Duty even more important if we are to make the lives of people experiencing poverty and inequality measurably better.”

A UK Government spokesman said: “We are committed to ending poverty and are putting more money in the pockets of hard-working families, which is why this year we provided a pay rise to two million of the UK’s lowest-paid through a higher minimum wage.

“Universal Credit will continue to provide vital support for those both in and out of work and it’s right that the UK Government should focus on our multi-million pound Plan for Jobs, supporting people back into work or to earn more.

“Meanwhile, the Scottish Parliament has significant welfare powers and can top-up existing benefits, pay discretionary payments and create entirely new benefits in areas of devolved responsibility.”