As 2025 draws to a close, we are thinking about what the new year will bring for families across Scotland. Too many families with babies continue to struggle to make ends meet through a combination of low paid, insecure jobs, high costs and lack of an adequate safety net. The start of the year brings an opportunity to do more to help them.
The Cabinet Secretary for Finance will set out the Scottish Government’s proposed budget for 2026/27 on 13th January. All eyes are on whether this will be a budget that provides hope that this year will be a better one for families. We’d like to see more help for families with babies and are calling on the Scottish Government to invest in a Baby Guarantee.
Every parent has hopes and dreams for their baby’s future – but one in three families with a baby is living in poverty. This is well above the national average of 22 percent.
Doing Better for Babies means increasing the Best Start Pregnancy Grant to £4,885 for a first child (paid quarterly) and raising the Best Start Foods Grant to £160 per month. Our modelling (by IPPR Scotland) shows this would reduce child poverty for families with a baby under one by 6 percent– a significant reduction. This would take the poverty rate for families with a baby from 35 to 29 percent. But this is about more than just numbers - this is about every baby in Scotland having an equal chance to thrive.
This targeted support would help parents manage the high costs of having a baby like prams and highchairs, afford expensive seasonal purchases like warm winter coats and shoes, and purchase everyday essentials like nappies, as well as afford the healthy and nutritious foods that are so vital for children and their families to thrive.
Why now?
The budget provides an opportunity to make this a reality. Money has been freed up due to the UK Government scrapping the cruel two child limit. The scrapping of the two-child limit was a moment of real hope for children and families on low incomes across the UK.
The Scottish Government had already committed to mitigating it’s impact. And since the UK Government’s commitment, the Scottish Government has pledged to use that money to drive more progress on child poverty.
In a time of scarce resources and squeezed budgets, government spend needs to be impactful. We believe the best way to use any available money is through investing in social security support for families. That is why we’re urging the Scottish Government to invest any ‘freed-up’ cash in families with a baby under one. This would boost childhoods and make sure our next generation can fulfill its full potential.
What we are proposing would cost £100 million - less than the estimated amount that has been freed up by the two-child limit being scrapped at source.
Investing in this targeted support for babies would ensure every parent has the chance to give their baby the kind of start in life they want to and is able to play and learn with their child in that precious first year, without worrying about affording nappies or food. Parents we’ve worked with have told us if implemented, this could make a real difference.
We need to get today’s decisions right to shape better childhoods and a better future for our country. The Scottish Government has the opportunity to take bold action to reduce poverty and support the tiniest members of our society so they can enjoy the healthy, happy and thriving childhoods they deserve. There should be no limits to childhood, or to what a child can go on to achieve. We hope the New Year provides the lift so many families desperately need.
