Improving the Lives of Scotland’s Gypsy/Travellers 2: action plan 2024-2026

Introduction

In the 2022 Census, 3,343 people in Scotland identified as belonging to the Gypsy/Traveller ethnic group, representing 0.06% of Scotland’s population.^[1] However, organisations working with these communities estimate that the true Gypsy/Traveller population size could be as high as 15,000 to 20,000. This indicates that Gypsy/Travellers can be more difficult to count in the census and other surveys, due to the fact that they move around, feel the need to hide their identities due to fear of discrimination, or feel a disconnect with any benefits from completing these surveys.^[2]

Gypsy/Travellers have been part of the Scottish landscape for centuries. However, they are still one of the groups in Scotland most likely to experience social, educational, and labour market exclusion, poor health, and poverty in Scotland (“Is Scotland Fairer” report). Testimonies from Gypsy/Traveller communities shared with the Scottish Human Rights Commission in 2023 underlined experiences of racism and discrimination, challenges with accessing services and poor quality accommodation negatively impacting their physical and mental health. Findings of the Seldom Heard Voices 2022 research programme also revealed that when Gypsy/Travellers try to access social security services such as benefits, they face barriers, including discriminatory attitudes, complex applications, difficulty finding information about services, and long waiting times. Gypsy/Traveller children are also more likely to live below poverty lines (Tackling child poverty - progress report 2023-2024).

Our review of Scottish Government and COSLA’s joint action plan ‘Improving the lives of Gypsy/Travellers’ evidences that good progress has been made since 2019 in the areas of accommodation, health, representation and tackling discrimination (further details are provided in the next section). However, it is clear that this progress requires further time to become more embedded and reach communities more widely. ‘Improving the lives of Gypsy/Travellers 2’ will continue the momentum achieved and act on recommendations received through further research and evaluations carried out until now.

‘Improving the lives of Gypsy/Travellers 2’ is closely linked to our wider shared priorities in the National Performance Framework and our strong ambition to build a fairer Scotland. This means tackling poverty and inequality and, in particular, bringing an end to child poverty. Above all, this Plan is about protecting and promoting human rights, delivering equality and creating strong and cohesive communities.