Tam Baillie is the Vice Chair of CPCScotland and former Children’s Commissioner for Scotland

CHILD Protection Committees Scotland, a national network of child protection professionals, is extremely concerned that the impact of the cost of living crisis will be severe for many children and families across the country.

Despite Government action on energy costs, significant increases in the price of gas and electricity mean that we expect that many more individuals and families to fall into fuel poverty. Added to that is the sharply rising rate of inflation and labour unrest as wages struggle to keep pace with inflation. Then there’s the recent financial turmoil which has further ramped up levels of uncertainty.

The cost of living crisis affects all families, but particularly those who are already struggling with insufficient finances to manage their households. Parenting is challenging at the best of times, but when basic material needs cannot be met, the pressure under which parents are trying to raise their children is inevitably raised. The choices being faced by so many parents are invidious – whether to provide food or heating, or missing their own meals to make sure their children are fed.

All of this has an impact on stress levels for parents. And that matters. Stress can undermine their ability to provide the parenting they want to, and which their children need. The toxic combination of not having enough money to maintain a basic standard of living and increased pressure on their wellbeing, adds hugely to the strain of everyday family life.

The implications for child protection services are significant. A recent publication from the UCL Institute of Health Equity has estimated that half of households in the UK will be affected by fuel poverty, with the consequence of a "significant humanitarian crisis with thousands of lives lost and millions of children’s development blighted". Add to that the body of evidence which already demonstrates the association between poverty and child abuse and neglect, where poverty has been described as a "contributory causal factor" in the number of children who come to the attention of protection services. Poverty in itself may not lead to abuse or neglect but evidence shows that when families are under additional duress, more children are likely to suffer. We already have evidence that children living in poverty are overly represented in our child protection systems. The likelihood is that with the dire economic circumstances being faced by so many that there will be a corresponding increase in children who come to the attention of our protection services.

We have tolerated high levels of child poverty for far too long in Scotland – there’s been barely a shift over the last 20 years – shockingly, that’s still one in every four children. Yet, the level of poverty can be mitigated by UK and Scottish governments and local authorities.

CPCScotland calls on government and public bodies at all levels to implement policies that will minimise the impact of the cost of living crisis on children and families. Urgent, concerted action is needed if we are to protect children at risk and avert increased instances of child abuse and neglect.