Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2026-2031 published.
New support for parents to increase their
incomes and reduce the burden of everyday costs, on top of
existing work, will help to keep approximately
100,000 children out of poverty in 2026-27.
More than £111 million is being committed
to updated plans to eradicate child
poverty through Bringing Hope, Building
Futures.
It builds on existing Scottish Government action
which has already reduced relative child poverty rates in
Scotland to the lowest levels in almost a decade –
with rates nine percentage points lower than the UK in
2023-24.
Action includes:
- Investing £61.5 million in the
Tackling Child Poverty Fund to strengthen and introduce
measures, including to expand childcare support for
low-income
parents, help employers offer
progression opportunities, grow the Family Nurse
Partnership to
help up to 500 more young
parents during pregnancy
and into parenthood, and to expand Bookbug
- A £20 million Whole Family Support Third Sector
Delivery Fund for charities to help families in
their communities
- £30 million to boost incomes through work, create more
training opportunities for parents by investing in the
college sector, and to reduce transport costs for
low-income parents travelling to work
- £9 million to mitigate the UK Government's freeze on Local
Housing Allowance rates, which caps the amount of housing
support a household can receive, to support up
to 18,000 families
Social Justice Secretary
Shirley-Anne Somerville said:
“Eradicating child poverty is the Scottish
Government's driving mission – no child should
live in poverty in a country as rich as Scotland.
“This plan builds on a great deal of
progress and sets out a broad range of actions to
help parents – by reducing the cost of
living, helping increase incomes received
through work and social security, and
helping their children to thrive.
“I am proud that Scotland is the only part of
the UK to have statutory targets to drive
down child poverty, which were unanimously
agreed by
parliament. Our plan focusses on
concrete action this year
while providing the foundations on
which any incoming administration can build and reflect its own
policy priorities, working with industry,
local authorities and
charities, to give children in Scotland a
future free from the scourge of poverty.”
Background
Tackling Child Poverty
Delivery Plan 2026-31: Bringing
Hope, Building Futures is the
Scottish Government's final statutory Tackling Child Poverty
Delivery Plan delivered under the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act
2017.
Annex
1 of Bringing Hope, Building
Futures includes:
- a breakdown of how all resource for the Two Child Limit
Payment has been reallocated to efforts to eradicate child
poverty
- a list of all new and strengthened policies
- details of the statutory child poverty targets
under the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017
- a response to each of the Poverty and Inequality Commission's
recommendations
Additional child poverty measures outlined in
the Scottish Budget 2026-27 and Scottish Spending
Review include:
- Continued investment in Five Family Payments, which, backed
by £524 million in 2026-27, support families with everyday
essentials for their children, including food and
clothing
- Raising the Scottish Child Payment for eligible
parents of children under one to £40 per
week during 2027-28
- £100 million over three years for a national breakfast club
offer
- A record £926 million investment in affordable
housing in 2026-27
In 2023-24, rates of relative child poverty in Scotland fell to
their lowest level in almost a decade and were 9
percentage points lower than in the UK: Child poverty summary
Cumulative Impact Assessment
Applications to the Whole Family Support Third
Sector Delivery Fund open at 15:00 Thursday 12 March and can
be made by charities across the country that meet the relevant
criteria.
The £9 million of funding for Local Housing
Allowance rates freeze mitigation includes £5 million from the
Tackling Child Poverty Fund and £4 million from the Housing
Support budget.
