BMJ 2019;364:l1370 doi: 10.1136/bmj.
l1370 (Published 25 March 2019)
News
Child poverty in Scotland set to worsen despite targets
set in 2017
Bryan Christie
Edinburgh, UK
Child poverty in Scotland is projected to hit a 20 year high in
the next few years, despite ambitious targets set by the Scottish
government to reduce the problem.
This warning comes from the Resolution Foundation, which
says that radical action will be needed if politicians are serious
about meeting their targets.
Their report Wrong Direction1 blames welfare policies
introduced in 2015 by the UK government for the projected
increase. These include a four year freeze on working age
benefits and a two child limit on support. The programme will
cut £12bn (€14bn; $16bn) from welfare payments at substantial
cost to families across the UK. This was followed by the
abandonment by the UK government of its statutory commitment
to eradicate child poverty by 2020.
The Scottish parliament took a different approach when it
unanimously approved the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act in
2017.2 The act commits the government to reducing relative
child poverty to below 18% by 2023-24, and to below 10% by
2030-31, alongside targets to reduce absolute poverty, persistent
poverty, and material deprivation.
The latest figures, for 2016-17, show that 23% of children across
Scotland were living in relative poverty (being part of a
household with income below 60% of the median)—a total of
230 000 children. This is significantly lower than the overall
UK rate of 30%.
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NEWS
The Resolution Foundation’s projection, based on economic
forecasts and policy analysis, is that relative child poverty will
increase to 29% in Scotland by 2023-24, equivalent to an extra
60 000 children.
Adam Corlett, senior economic analyst at the foundation and
author of the report, said: “Child poverty across Scotland is on
course to rise substantially in the coming years, and risks
reaching a 20 year high by 2023. If the Scottish government is
to meet its ambitious—and welcome—child poverty reduction
targets, it will need to implement much more radical changes
to social security than it has done.”
One measure that could help is the planned introduction of an
income supplement in Scotland with a specific focus on reducing
child poverty. This is expected in 2022, although there are no
details about how it will work.
The Scottish government’s cabinet secretary for communities
and local government, Aileen Campbell, said: “We’re doing all
we can with the powers we have to mitigate cuts, protect people
on low incomes, and secure our ambitions to eradicate child
poverty.”
1 Resolution Foundation. Wrong direction: can Scotland hit its child poverty targets? March
2019. www.resolutionfoundation.org/app/uploads/2019/03/Wrong-direction-briefing-note.
pdf.
2 Scottish Government. Child poverty (Scotland) act: target measures. 2017. www2.gov.
scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Social-Welfare/IncomePoverty/CPBillInfographic.
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