As key anti-poverty charities in Scotland we are collectively extremely concerned by the latest tackling child poverty delivery plan from the Scottish Government. We all recognise the very real progress that has been made on child poverty in recent years, not least through the vital investment in the Scottish Child Payment, but we are deeply concerned that the new plan does not go far enough in meeting the needs of the far too many children and their families struggling today.
The analysis published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) alongside this statement argues that the plan is not even compliant with the demands of the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 and could arguably be subject to successful judicial review.
Most importantly, the point of the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 is to deliver a transformed Scotland. A place where child poverty is a lot rarer than it is today. That would be a Scotland where those children and their families who need support are more likely to get it. Where every child in our society has the chance to explore their potential and grow up in a society that allows them to learn, build relationships, contribute to their society and have fun.
While bureaucratic requirements of legislation may feel some distance from that vision, they have to become more important than the paper they are written on. They need to be embodied in a determined spirit of government to change the lives for the better of the people that they represent.
We have no great interest in challenging any government in court, we would much rather be arguing for greater improvements in budgets, or policy that is directly helping children and their families today. But this new Scottish Government needs to hold itself to the standards that, we should remember, they were key in setting for themselves.
People in Scotland are demanding better, and our children deserve better. We hope this analysis can spur the Scottish Government to bring forward and deliver a revised plan that will strive to meet those poverty reduction targets. It is forgivable to fail, but only if that’s after straining every sinew to succeed. As a result, we believe the next steps should be:
• That the Scottish Government immediately commits to and delivers a revised tackling child poverty delivery plan that, crucially, commits to action that will meet the targets set by the Act.
• If that delivery plan similarly fails to show action that would aspire to meeting those targets, in a measurable way, we believe that plan would also be potentially vulnerable to judicial review.
Chris Birt, JRF associate director for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
John Dickie, Child Poverty Action Group director for Scotland
Cara Hilton, Senior Policy & Public Affairs Manager (Scotland) for Trussell Trust
Peter Kelly, Chief Executive of the Poverty Alliance
Justina Murray, Aberlour Chief Executive
Satwat Rehman, chief executive of One Parent Families Scotland Claire Telfer, Head of Scotland, Save the Children UK