POVERTY rates in Scotland have started to rise and more needs to be done to tackle deprivation, a report has found.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) called for a “focused commitment from employers, housing providers and public services – both national and local”.
Figures show more than one million Scots struggle with poverty, including 240,000 children, 640,000 working-age adults and 150,000 pensioners.
The foundation’s Poverty in Scotland 2019 report – published at the start of Challenge Poverty Week – warned the problem is increasing.
It said: “Overall, poverty in Scotland was lower in 2015–18 (the most recent period for which we have data) than it was in 1999–2002 at the start of devolution, but since 2009–12, poverty rates have started to shift upwards.”
The think tank said plans to introduce a new social security benefit called the Scottish Child Payment, phased in from late 2020, will go some way to helping Scotland meet its challenging child poverty targets.
Meanwhile, poverty rates measured after housing costs are much lower in Scotland than in the rest of the UK overall.
But it insisted: “Action is needed on all fronts and must be enough to rewrite the rules of the game for people living in poverty in Scotland.
“Poverty is at the root of many of society’s deepest-set issues, from the attainment gap in schools to severe health inequalities and even declining life expectancy.
“This is simply unacceptable. As a society we can choose to make different decisions that will change people’s lives unequivocally.”
Legislation passed in 2017 outlined a number of child poverty targets for Scotland – including that by 2030, less than 10 per cent should be living in relative poverty.
Jim McCormick, associate director for Scotland at the JRF, said: “Over the last two decades, cheaper rents and a larger social rented sector in Scotland have been key to unlocking opportunities for families to achieve a decent life.
“But this success is showing signs of unravelling and cannot be taken for granted.”
SNP Communities Secretary Aileen Campbell said she welcomed the foundation’s “recognition of our bold commitment to reduce child poverty in Scotland”.
She added: “This comes after UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights Philip Alston said Scotland is on a ‘very different trajectory’ than England when it comes to the social protection of our people.
“The Scottish Government invested over £1.4 billion to support low income households last year, including the £100 million we invest each year to mitigate the worst impacts of UK Government welfare changes.”
She said the new Scottish Child Payment has “rightly been described as game-changing”, while Scotland is also leading the way on affordable housing, with 87,000 affordable homes delivered.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel