The Scottish Government has made 'limited progress' toward meeting its child poverty targets, the independent body to which it reports has said, as it laid out four recommendations. 

The Poverty and Inequality Commission was set up in June 2019 by Holyrood to provide independent advice to ministers on tackling the issues.

When preparing its own child poverty progress report, the Scottish Government must consult the commission on the progress that has been made toward meeting child poverty targets and what more is needed.

On Tuesday the Poverty and Inequality Commission released its 2023-24 report which stated that had been "limited progress" toward meeting the targets over the last year, and that "child poverty targets were broadly the same as they were five years previously".

Read More:

While there was praise for the "substantial progress" made in social security income, including the Scottish Child Payment, "progress in other areas is slow or not evident at all".

Modelling produced by the Scottish Government suggested that the policies it has implemented may have stopped child poverty from increasing - compared to having taken no action at all - but that the targets are a long way from being met.

The interim targets set out when the Child Poverty Delivery Plan was launched in 2019 being met is "improbable", the report states, though the official statistics will not be available until 2025.

The Herald: Child Poverty

It continues: "Of even greater concern is the path to reach the 2030 targets. Meeting the 2030 targets will require transformational change in relation to all the drivers of poverty.

"While some good work is taking place, this is not at the scale necessary to deliver the transformation required. In addition, existing commitments, such as the expansion of early learning and school age childcare, employability support, and the Affordable Housing Supply Programme, have been put at risk by a lack of funding needed to deliver them, and in some cases funding reductions.

"In view of recent statistics, and the scale and effects of actions taken over the last year, the Commission’s opinion is that it is unlikely that the interim targets will be met. Furthermore, without immediate and significant action, the Scottish Government will not meet the 2030 targets."

In response the Poverty and Inequality has made four recommendations.

The first is that the Scottish Government should convene and lead a national cross-party and civil society agreement to develop a shared six year strategy to meet the 2030 child poverty targets. This cross-party approach should consider the choices that need to be made around tax and spending.

Secondly it should reprioritise funding to ensure that the necessary resources are made available to deliver both its existing commitments and future actions to tackle child poverty. 

Thirdly, Holyrood should act quickly on the recommendations set out in the Commission’s report how better tax policy can reduce poverty and inequality.

Finally, the Scottish Government should clarify and further develop how the priority family types are used to inform policy development, implementation and monitoring in policy areas related to the three key drivers of poverty.

Shirley-Anne Somerville Cabinet Secretary for Communities, Social Security and Equalities said in a ministerial statement said that eradicating child poverty was the "defining mission of this government".

She said it had “not been possible to invest in all of the actions” the government would have wished and that they were acting "with one hand tied behind our back".

John Dickie, Director of the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland said: "We have seen very real action on child poverty in Scotland, not least the roll out of the Scottish child payment, but today’s reports are crystal clear that progress has stalled and that the policies in place are not enough to meet statutory targets.  If child poverty really is the First Minister’s number one priority, then investment decisions need to back that up.

"The failure of the 2024/25 Scottish budget to fully fund the childcare, employment and housing actions in the government’s own plan must never be repeated. The Scottish government’s child poverty delivery plan needs to be turbocharged, not underfunded. All political parties need to act at every level of government to deliver the economic, tax and spending plans that will ensure every family has the resources needed to protect their children from poverty.

"Here in Scotland the first step needs to be an immediate real terms increase to the Scottish child payment, and a commitment to ensure it reaches £40 per week by the end of the Parliament. At UK level all parties must commit to scrapping the poverty producing two-child limit and to increasing child benefit by £20 per week. Our children deserve nothing less.”