Ending destitution together: strategy

Delivering the Strategy

This strategy focuses on what lawful and practical steps can be taken through partnership in Scotland to achieve the vision that no one in Scotland is forced into destitution and everyone has their human rights protected, regardless of their immigration status.

The strategy will be led in partnership by the Scottish Government and COSLA, guided by the three principles: prevention; partnership; and personalisation.

The strategy provides an overarching framework which will be implemented through the ongoing development and delivery of actions. The voices, experience and participation of people with NRPF will be essential to delivery, and we will seek opportunities for people with lived experience to continue to be involved. We will continue to engage and work in collaboration with third sector organisations and community groups, who play a vital role in providing support and delivering innovative solutions to destitution. We will also engage with civic leaders on future policy change.

We will report annually on progress against the actions in this strategy. We recognise that we are in a period of substantial change, particularly due to the impacts of EU Exit and COVID-19, so there will be scope to develop new actions where this is needed to achieve the ambition of this strategic approach.

The Scottish Government is making an initial investment of £500,000 to support delivery of actions in the first year of the strategy. As set out in the three action areas of this strategy (Essential Needs, Advice and Advocacy, and Inclusion), a wide range of Scottish Government programmes, public services, local authority statutory support and third sector projects already deliver support that is inclusive of people subject to NRPF. This includes healthcare, advice services and direct support for families with children and vulnerable adults.

Our aim is to ensure that mainstream programmes support people subject to NRPF wherever that is possible, so that they are included in our communities and can access support when needed. However, because these programmes are delivered inclusively, it is often not possible to isolate the amount spent through them on supporting people subject to NRPF. As a result, the total investment in supporting people will be significantly higher than this initial investment as the strategy works to strengthen existing support and services. We will also seek to use the strategy as an opportunity to capture existing support provision in order to improve understanding of needs and drive improvement.

There are actions which are not included in this strategy because they relate to matters which are reserved to the Westminster Parliament. The Scottish Government and COSLA will therefore also continue to raise such issues, which impact people living in Scotland, with the UK Government. The issues that we are currently focused on are set out at the end of this document.