Children's charity Aberlour warns tackling poverty in Scotland 'needs same emergency response as Covid pandemic'

The impact of poverty in Scotland demands the same emergency response as Covid, according to the children’s charity Aberlour.

It says the escalating crisis trapping young Scots in poverty requires the same urgent support offered to families during the pandemic.

One in four children now live in poverty but, the charity warns, the figure is far higher in Scotland’s poorest postcodes where half of all children may be growing up in families struggling to stay afloat.

SallyAnn Kelly, Aberlour chief executive, said the number of young lives blighted by poverty now demands the same response that delivered urgent financial support for families as Britain locked down.

She said: “No one could ever underestimate the suffering and loss inflicted by Covid but the lives and life chances of thousands of children are being as badly impacted by poverty as the pandemic.

“We need the same ambition, determination and urgency around poverty as we had during lockdown in terms of supporting families and protecting the lives of children.

“The swift and effective action taken then is needed now and our governments need to step up.”

Kelly said the difference in the response to poverty is because decision-makers are not directly affected as they were by the pandemic.

She said: “The emergency support for families during Covid would have been thought impossible just a few weeks earlier.

“The reason that assistance was put in place with such speed was because politicians and policy-makers were just as affected as everyone else.

“There was no sense that Covid was something happening to other people and that is why the response to poverty is so different.

“The experience of living in poverty is so far from decision-makers’ lives that they can struggle to understand it.

“They seem to believe poverty is something that happens to other people, to poor people.”

Kelly said the distance between politicians and poverty has sabotaged effective action.

She said: “It’s about what commentators call proximity and, right now, our decision makers seem far, far away from families in poverty.

“The issue does not impact on their day to day lives so they do not seem as invested in addressing it. That was not the case during Covid.

“Policy-makers do not seem to understand the daily challenges facing families, of getting food on the table, getting kids to school, paying for clothes, staying warm and all the rest.

“If that awareness was there, we would have seen less talk and far more action.

“Politicians would believe us when we say the safety net meant to catch any of us if we fall is in tatters.

“Far too many families are plunging right through.”

Aberlour has urged the Scottish Government to increase the Scottish Child Payment and for UK ministers to scrap the two-child benefit cap because, Kelly said, giving more financial support for families in poverty is the simplest and most effective response to the unfolding crisis.

She spoke out as Aberlour launched its poverty relief fundraising campaign with every pound donated being delivered to families in the most extreme hardship through its Urgent Assistance Fund.

Kelly said: “The same urgent assistance happened during the pandemic, of course, and happened with unprecedented speed.

“The difference was the middle classes were trusted so if you were working but furloughed, for example, you would be supported financially because the government trusted you to do the right thing by your family.

“Families living in poverty deserve that same trust now.”

She added: “There is still this notion of the deserving poor and the undeserving poor.

“Nobody questioned if people were deserving or undeserving during the pandemic.

“During Covid, there was an absolute determination to protect everyone and the will to put measures in place urgently.

“We need that same urgency and determination to help families in poverty right now.”

Aberlour has welcomed a number of initiatives aimed at easing the crisis, including the Scottish Child Payment and the UK government’s determination to improve the pay and conditions of workers.

However, Kelly said: “We welcome all of that but it takes time and children do not have that time.

“They are suffering right now and they need action right now.

“There must be emergency relief for families, even if only on a temporary basis, until these promised changes take effect.

“That kind of temporary, emergency support is exactly what happened during Covid and is exactly what is needed now.

Last month, First Minister John Swinney said growing investment in Scotland would help to tackle child poverty in Scotland.

He said: “Growing our economy and achieving a just transition to net zero will, in turn, enable us to invest more in Scotland’s public services, and take further action to end child poverty.

The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act requires ministers to cut the rates of poverty among children to 10% in the next six years.

But statistics released by the Scottish Government earlier this year showed nearly a quarter (24%) of children were living in poverty in Scotland.

That was 6% higher than the interim goal of 18% for this year, which the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has said “will almost certainly” be missed.

The Child Poverty Action Group said the current figures show the Scottish Government is set to “fall far short” of its 2030 target.

But Swinney insisted it is not too late for the 10% target to be met.

He said: “I think it is achievable if there is the right policy focus across the board.

“We’ve taken steps, for example, through the Scottish child payment which is contributing to keeping 100,000 children out of poverty in Scotland today.

“We have, as a consequence, comparatively lower poverty rates in Scotland than the rest of the United Kingdom.

“But if you had a whole series of policy interventions from the Scottish and the United Kingdom governments working in harmony, then you can make even more substantial progress.”