The Scottish government is on track to miss the child poverty targets it has set itself, a report shows.
The SNP’s aim is for less than 10 per cent of children in Scottish households to be living in relative poverty by 2030.
Research shows the measures introduced so far are falling short. The Tackling Child Poverty and Destitution report, by the think tank IPPR Scotland, said the Scottish child payment (SCP) and the Scottish Welfare Fund had made a tangible difference to people struggling on low incomes, but they did not go far enough to meet statutory child poverty targets.
At present, the SCP offers £10 a week to families with a child under the age of six and in receipt of qualifying means-tested benefits, with no limit on the number of children per family eligible. It is set to double in April to £20, and by the end of the year the age threshold will rise to cover all children under 16 in eligible households.
IPPR estimates suggest the payment will lift 30,000 children out of poverty by the end of 2024, but this will be three percentage points, or 30,000 children, short of the interim government target.
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Based on previous modelling, it said the value of the payment would have to double again from £20 to £40 by the end of this parliament for targets to be met.
IPPR researchers also recommended additional SCP “premium” payments for higher-risk homes, such as lone-parent families.
In the face of a cost-of-living crisis, the report also called for an urgent review of the Scottish Welfare Fund. It said the Scottish government should ensure same-day decisions on applications for crisis grants, which are issued by the fund in an emergency, and that local authorities should be resourced to enable this.
With the publication of the Scottish government’s Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan due this month, Claire Telfer, head of Save the Children’s Scotland team, said it provided ministers with “an opportunity to take bold steps . . . to ensure every family has enough money to provide for their family”.
Polly Jones, head of Scotland at the Trussell Trust, said: “If we are serious about ending the need for food banks, the Scottish government must ensure the Scottish Welfare Fund is properly resourced and raise the Scottish child payment to £40 a week.”
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Rachel Statham, associate director of IPPR Scotland, said the SCP must go “further and faster” to protect families from being swept into poverty.
