Tackling child poverty delivery plan: progress report 2022 to 2023
The first annual progress report for 'Best Start, Bright Futures: Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2022-2026'. Outlining action for the period 2022 to 2023.
At a glance summaries
Introduction
The following section provides a series of ‘at a glance’ tables providing a summary overview of activity in 2022-23.
The first table provides overall progress on each of the actions committed and how each action is expected to contribute toward our national mission to tackle child poverty.
Table two sets out a short progress update against each of the actions committed which have not been reported against in each of the nine workstreams earlier in this report.
Table three sets out what has been spent from the Tackling Child Poverty Fund across 2022- 23.
Table four sets out an estimate of Scottish Government investment in 2022-23 directed at low income households with children and investment targeted at low income households more generally – where children are also expected to benefit.
The final table outlines the requirements of the Child Poverty Scotland (Act) 2017, and how we have addressed each within this report. Responses to the eight recommendations of the Poverty and Inequality Commission are also noted here.
Overview of progress
The following table provides an at a glance update on the status of all actions in ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’ as of 31 March 2023. The table also summarises how each action will help us to tackle child poverty.
Of the 101 actions set out in the delivery plan, 40 are complete or delivering is ongoing, 39 are in progress, 19 are in the early stages of development. Work on two of the actions in the delivery plan has not yet started, and one action has been aligned with other commitments and will be delivered through them.
Table 1 – Summary of action status
Expected outcome:
EMP
Increasing income from employment – relevant to all four targets.
HC
Reducing housing costs – relevant to all four targets.
OC
Reducing other costs of living – relevant to the low income and material deprivation target.
SS
Increasing income from social security and benefits in kind – relevant to all four targets.
LC
Improving children’s life chances in ways that are not about increasing current income or reducing costs of living – potentially relevant to future child poverty levels, when these children become parents themselves.
ACTION
Commence work in local pathfinder areas
Expected outcome
LC, EMP, SS, OC, HC
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Act on findings of Rural and Islands Child Poverty Research
Expected outcome
LC, EMP, SS, OC, HC
Status
in progress
ACTION
Social Innovation Partnership – Flourishing Lives
Expected outcome
LC, EMP, SS, OC, HC
Status
in progress
ACTION
Increase scale of employment support
Expected outcome
EMP
Status
early stages of development
ACTION
Test and Learn Pilot for lone parents
Expected outcome
EMP, LC, SS, OC, HC
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Challenge Fund
Expected outcome
EMP
Status
aligned with other action
ACTION
Parental Transition Fund
Expected outcome
EMP
Status
early stages of development
ACTION
Increasing awareness and uptake of employment support
Expected outcome
EMP
Status
in progress
ACTION
Lifetime Skills Offer
Expected outcome
EMP
Status
early stages of development
ACTION
Adult upskilling and reskilling offer
Expected outcome
EMP
Status
early stages of development
ACTION
Adult Learning Strategy for Scotland
Expected outcome
EMP
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
NHS Demonstrator Project and apprenticeship opportunities
Expected outcome
EMP
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Just Transition Fund
Expected outcome
LC, OC
Status
in progress
ACTION
Strategic plan for childcare
Expected outcome
EMP, OC
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Further develop funded early learning childcare for children aged one and two
Expected outcome
EMP, OC
Status
early stages of development
ACTION
Maximise uptake of existing funded early learning childcare for eligible two year olds
Expected outcome
EMP, OC
Status
in progress
ACTION
Build a system of school age childcare
Expected outcome
EMP, OC
Status
early stages of development
ACTION
Summer 2022 holiday programme
Expected outcome
EMP, OC
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Eligibility review for funded childcare
Expected outcome
EMP, OC
Status
early stages of development
ACTION
Deliver concessionary fares for eligible groups
Expected outcome
EMP, OC, LC
Status
in progress
ACTION
Fair Fares Review
Expected outcome
EMP, OC, LC
Status
in progress
ACTION
Next generation of digital travel systems
Expected outcome
EMP, OC, LC
Status
in progress
ACTION
Community Bus Fund
Expected outcome
EMP, OC, LC
Status
work not yet started
ACTION
Review of Demand Responsive Transport
Expected outcome
EMP, OC, LC
Status
in progress
ACTION
Connecting Scotland
Expected outcome
EMP, HC, OC, SS, LC
Status
early stages of development
ACTION
Shared vision for tackling child poverty in partnership with business and employers
Expected outcome
EMP
Status
early stages of development
ACTION
Refreshed Fair Work Action Plan
Expected outcome
EMP
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Workplace Equality Fund
Expected outcome
EMP
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Women Returners Programme
Expected outcome
EMP
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Public sector grant recipients to pay at least the real living Wage to all employees
Expected outcome
EMP
Status
in progress
ACTION
Community Wealth Building
Expected outcome
EMP
Status
early stages of development
ACTION
Build child poverty into major Scottish Government events
Expected outcome
LC
Status
in progress
ACTION
Public Sector Pay Policy
Expected outcome
EMP
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Supported Business
Expected outcome
EMP
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Expand the number of employers paying at least the real Living Wage and offering Living Hours
Expected outcome
EMP
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Whole Family Wellbeing Funding
Expected outcome
EMP, OC, LC, SS, HC
Status
in progress
ACTION
Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill - to reform the law governing bail decisions and the mechanisms around prison release
Expected outcome
LC
Status
in progress
ACTION
Barnahaus model
Expected outcome
LC
Status
in progress
ACTION
CashBack for Communities
Expected outcome
LC
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Strengthen immediate protections for the victims of abuse
Expected outcome
LC
Status
in progress
ACTION
Prison Visitor Centres
Expected outcome
LC, HC
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Getting it Right Together (renamed GIRFE)
Expected outcome
LC
Status
early stages of development
ACTION
Family focused services for people with alcohol and drug problems
Expected outcome
LC
Status
in progress
ACTION
Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults
Expected outcome
LC, OC, EMP
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Community mental health resilience and social prescribing
Expected outcome
LC
Status
in progress
ACTION
Fairer Funding Programme
Expected outcome
LC
Status
early stages of development
ACTION
Third Sector Fund
Expected outcome
LC, OC, HC, SS
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
STV Children's Appeal
Expected outcome
EMP, HC, OC, SS, LC
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Family Fund
Expected outcome
LC, OC, SS
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Equality and Human Rights Fund
Expected outcome
LC
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Place Based Investment Programme
Expected outcome
EMP
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Empowering Communities Programme
Expected outcome
EMP
Status
in progress
ACTION
Increase 8 social security payments by 6%
Expected outcome
SS
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Scottish Child Payment
Expected outcome
SS
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Bridging Payments
Expected outcome
SS
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Remove income thresholds from Best Start Foods
Expected outcome
SS
Status
in progress
ACTION
Explore systems of automated payment for Social Security benefits
Expected outcome
SS
Status
in progress
ACTION
Carer Support Payment
Expected outcome
SS
Status
early stages of development
ACTION
Extra payment for carer’s of more than one disabled person
Expected outcome
SS
Status
early stages of development
ACTION
Scotland’s Child Disability Payment case transfer
Expected outcome
SS
Status
in progress
ACTION
Adult Disability Payment (ADP)
Expected outcome
SS
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Winter Heating Payment
Expected outcome
SS
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
National guidance on school uniforms
Expected outcome
HC
Status
in progress
ACTION
Further expand Free School Meal provision
Expected outcome
HC, SS
Status
in progress
ACTION
Publish Scottish guidance for Discretionary Housing Payment
Expected outcome
HC
Status
early stages of development
ACTION
Independent review of the Scottish Welfare Fund
Expected outcome
SS
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Mitigate the Benefit Cap as fully as possible
Expected outcome
SS
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
£150 Cost of Living Payment
Expected outcome
SS
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Benefit take up strategy
Expected outcome
SS
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Social Security Advocacy Service
Expected outcome
SS
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Expand the Family Nurse Partnership
Expected outcome
LC, HC, OC
Status
in progress
ACTION
Enhance financial advice from Health Visitors
Expected outcome
LC, HC, OC
Status
in progress
ACTION
Welfare Advice and Health Partnerships
Expected outcome
LC, HC, OC
Status
in progress
ACTION
Free debt advice
Expected outcome
SS, OC, HC
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Strategic approach to communications – income maximisation
Expected outcome
LC, HC, OC, SS, EMP
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Plan for ending the need for food banks
Expected outcome
SS
Status
in progress
ACTION
Affordable Housing Supply Programme
Expected outcome
HC, LC
Status
in progress
ACTION
Remote, Rural and Islands Housing Action Plan
Expected outcome
HC
Status
early stages of development
ACTION
Private rented housing sector reforms
Expected outcome
HC
Status
work not yet started
ACTION
Gypsy/Traveller accommodation
Expected outcome
HC
Status
in progress
ACTION
Home Energy Scotland Loans and Grants scheme
Expected outcome
HC
Status
in progress
ACTION
Fuel Insecurity Fund
Expected outcome
HC, SS
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Successor to Warmer Homes Scotland
Expected outcome
HC
Status
in progress
ACTION
Ending Homelessness Together
Expected outcome
HC, LC
Status
in progress
ACTION
Scale up Housing First
Expected outcome
HC, LC
Status
in progress
ACTION
Play Park renewal
Expected outcome
LC
Status
in progress
ACTION
Refreshed GIRFEC resources
Expected outcome
LC
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
The Promise Partnership Fund
Expected outcome
LC
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Scottish Attainment Challenge
Expected outcome
EMP, LC
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Removal of charges for core curriculum subjects
Expected outcome
OC, LC
Status
in progress
ACTION
Improve digital access for school age children
Expected outcome
LC, SS
Status
early stages of development
ACTION
Scottish Mentoring and Leadership Programme
Expected outcome
EMP, LC
Status
in progress
ACTION
Pilot of free bikes for children whose parent/guardian cannot afford to buy a bike
Expected outcome
OC, LC
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Investment in sport, active living, and Active Schools programmes
Expected outcome
LC
Status
in progress
ACTION
Youth Work Strategy
Expected outcome
EMP, LC
Status
in progress
ACTION
School Leavers’ Toolkit
Expected outcome
LC
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Tackling the digital divide in further and higher education
Expected outcome
EMP, LC
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Enhance the total student support package
Expected outcome
EMP, LC
Status
in progress
ACTION
Young Person’s Guarantee
Expected outcome
EMP , LC
Status
complete / delivery ongoing
ACTION
Care Experience Grant
Expected outcome
SS
Status
early stages of development
ACTION
Legislate to exempt under 22s from Council Tax
Expected outcome
HC, LC
Status
early stages of development
Updates on other actions
The following table provides brief updates on actions committed within ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’ which have not otherwise been incorporated within the body of this report. As set out within the Plan, a balanced approach is needed to tackle child poverty effectively, and the following actions remain central to our overall child poverty strategy.
Table 2 – Progress on other actions
Just Transition Fund
Since 2022, £75 million of support has been announced from the Just Transition Fund (JTF). £50 million has been allocated to a multi-year capital grant programme supporting 24 projects running to 2025-26, which includes £1 million per year ringfenced for community projects via Participatory Budgeting (PB). £25 million has also been allocated to the Scottish National Investment Bank to be invested on a commercial basis in 2023-24.
Community support includes the setup of an Advanced Manufacturing Skills Hub, which provides training to facilitate and upskill members of the community, particularly those in nearby areas of deprivation. In addition, 45 local projects have been funded through PB and funding provided to North East Adventure Tourism will help to support young people in deprived areas.
Supported businesses
In 2022-23 the Supported Businesses framework agreement was extended until July 2023 to utilise the power of public procurement to support the integration of disadvantaged and disabled citizens into the workforce.
Connecting Scotland
In this reporting year, Connecting Scotland has continued to provide low-income households with digital support and we plan to relaunch the programme later this year and we will work with key partners across the public and third sector to reach those who need it most.
Build child poverty into major Scottish Government events
In this reporting year, we have worked to produce a consultation on our National Event Strategy, which launched on 24 March and will close on 30 June 2023, where we are asking what aims should be prioritised as part of aligning our strategic major events to policy priorities, including child poverty. Later this Summer we will review consultation responses and progress next steps to improve major event alignment to policy objectives.
Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill - to reform the law governing bail decisions and the mechanisms around prison release
Informed by a 12-week public consultation in early 2022, the Bill looks to reduce child poverty and deliver The Promise through recognition of the negative impact that periods of imprisonment can have on the individual and their family and the negative impact of parental imprisonment on outcomes for children. Over this reporting year, the Bill has progressed through the Scottish Parliament and is currently at Stage 3. In the next reporting year, we will work with partners to begin to implement the Bill (if passed).
Barnahaus model
The Barnahus Model provides Scotland with an opportunity to provide a genuinely child-centred approach to delivering justice, care and recovery. In August 2022 we published our draft Bairns’ Hoose Standards and have continued to refine these over this reporting year. In the forthcoming year we will look to publish Bairns’ Hoose National Standards and develop work to scope and progress a range of Pathfinders that will test the model.
CashBack for Communities
To date, up to £130 million from proceeds of crime has been committed to support young people. In this reporting year, the fund developed its 6th phase of funding and announced in March 2023 that the Phase 6 programme will run from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2026 with an increased overall budget of up to £20 million, with a total of 29 organisations to benefit.
Strengthen immediate protections for the victims of abuse
Since passing The Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Act 2021, we have worked with key stakeholders to implement additional protection for people who are at risk of domestic abuse, particularly where they are living with their abuser.
In the year under review, we established an operational working group comprised of justice stakeholders to work through the practicalities of how the legislation will operate in practice, including how Scottish Government ensures that the views of children are incorporated into operationalising the legislation. In the forthcoming year, we will continue to progress this work with our Implementation Board and the Operational Working Group.
Prison Visitor Centres
In 2022-23 funding of around £800,000 supported 12 Prison Visitor Centres to deliver tailored support for families impacted by imprisonment across Scotland. The approach aims to help families maintain relationships, especially parental bonds when a member of the family is in prison.
The Centres provide a range of practical and emotional support, including voicing the needs of families to prison staff and referring families to financial, housing, and mental health support.
For the forthcoming year, £807,000 has been approved to continue delivery, and the Funding Advisory Group and Strategic Steering Group will continue to further enhance delivery of supports through this project.
Third Sector Fund
We have extended the existing Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention & Adult Learning & Empowering Communities third sector fund for a further 2 years and introduced the Children Young People Families and Adult Learners third sector fund from July 2023 until March 2025.
The funds will support 137 third sector organisations with £35 million in core funding over the 2 financial years.
STV Children's Appeal
Through funding of £1 million, the Appeal supported projects across all 32 local authority areas, with more than 10,000 people reached. The Appeal also distributed an additional £500,000 to support responses to the cost-of-living crisis, with more than 100 organisations receiving funding to allow them to support families’ needs around energy costs, food and clothing.
Family Fund
Family Fund provides a wide range of grants to families living in Scotland raising a disabled, or seriously ill, child or young adult on a low income. In 2022-23 Scottish Government provided £2.974 million of grant funding to the Family Fund.
This funding has enabled 6,593 families raising disabled or seriously ill children on a low income in Scotland to receive a grant for items they would not have otherwise been able to afford. Items received by families have included computers and tablets, family breaks, outdoor play equipment, sensory toys, kitchen appliances and furniture.
Equality and Human Rights Fund
In this reporting year, the fund continued to support 48 organisations, including the Poverty Alliance, to deliver work focused on tackling inequality and discrimination. The forthcoming year will see the third year of this programme.
Place Based Investment Programme (PBIP)
Through our Place Based Investment Programme (PBIP), we are investing funding to support community-led regeneration and town- centre revitalisation.
In 2022-23 we allocated £74 million through PBIP in support of numerous regeneration projects across Scotland.
This investment supports regeneration specifically designed to create the local conditions and infrastructure for tackling the wellbeing, inequality and disadvantage issues which contribute to child poverty, enabling families to live well locally.
We monitor and learn from investment to date and in 2023-24 we will continue to invest in projects across Scotland and deliver this Programme for the remainder of this parliament as part of our five-year Infrastructure Investment Plan.
Empowering Communities Programme
The Empowering Communities Programme (ECP) invested £15.4 million in support of over 274 communities in 2022-23.
We will provide investment of up to £14 million in 2023-24 through a range of strategic partnerships and community funds. These will support communityled regeneration, enabling communities to tackle poverty and inequality on their own terms – strengthening communities and families and driving local action and opportunities to improve lives and tackle child poverty.
In addition, we are delivering the next round of the Investing in Communities Fund with funding up to £9.2 million, with the fund prioritising projects in areas of poverty, child poverty, inequality and disadvantage – addressing local identified challenges such as food insecurity and affordable childcare.
Extra payment for carer’s of more than one disabled person
We have continued to scope how we can enhance existing support for carers, over 2022-23 we have continued to explore options to deliver on this commitment.
National guidance on school uniforms
The Consultation on school uniform policy closed on 14 October 2022 with 2,751 responses received, Scottish Government continues to analyse responses, and in the next reporting year will consider next steps, which may include progressing to publish guidance.
Play Park renewal
In 2022-23, £5 million was invested to refurbish children’s play parks, ensuring that children across Scotland have access to free high quality play areas. We will know the impact of this investment later this year. To date, 185 play parks renewals have commenced or been completed due to funding from 2021-22.
In August 2022 the Scottish Government and COSLA agreed the allocation and distribution of £50 million in capital funding to local authorities over the remainder of this parliament for play park refurbishment.
Refreshed GIRFEC resources
In September 2022, following consultation and engagement with stakeholders, we published refreshed GIRFEC practice materials to support practitioners in their approach to improving wellbeing outcomes for children and young people.
Scottish Attainment Challenge
The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills set out to Parliament on 23 November 2021 plans for the Scottish Attainment Challenge (SAC) for 2022-23 to 2025-26, to support recovery from the pandemic and accelerate progress in closing the gap.
In this reporting year we have worked on implementing the refresh of SAC, in November 2022 we published our revised logic model and an evaluation strategy for the remainder of this parliament.
In the coming year, local authorities across Scotland are well placed to make further progress, as set out in the local stretch aims for tackling the attainment gap that were announced in December 2022.
The latest achievement of curriculum for excellence levels data, published in December 2022, demonstrated the biggest single-year decrease in the poverty-related gap in primary numeracy and literacy levels since records began.
Removal of charges for core curriculum subjects
The Scottish Government continues to support the removal of core curriculum costs for all primary and secondary pupils. This ensures that carers and families do not have to meet the costs of resources and materials for practical lessons and removes cost as a factor when young people are making choices about their education. Work has continued to develop guidance over this reporting year to support schools in delivering this commitment, and in the forthcoming year we will continue to develop guidance in collaboration with COSLA.
Improve digital access for school age children
We are committed to improving digital access for learners during the remainder of this parliament. In the year under review, we have worked with local authorities to scope the current picture of digital devices and infrastructure in schools. We are now using these findings to assess delivery models to begin a first phase of rollout for devices. We will continue to evaluate delivery options in the forthcoming year to ensure delivery provides maximum value for money.
Investment in sport, active living, and Active Schools programmes
Sport Scotland works in partnership with all 32 local authorities to invest in and support the Active Schools Network. Active Schools aims to provide more and higher quality opportunities to take part in sport and physical activity before school, during lunchtime and after school, and to develop effective pathways between schools and sports clubs in the local community.
During 2022-23, Sports Scotland worked with all local authorities to ensure there is a full understanding of the policy that all Active Schools activity should be free to participants. The 2022-23 report will be published later this year.
Going forward Scottish Government and Sports Scotland will continue to ensure that free sport and physical activity opportunities are available to children and young people through the Active Schools programme in all areas of the country. We have also asked local Active Schools teams to collect postcode data from participants so that an analysis by SIMD area can be undertaken. This data is currently being processed and will be published during 2023-24.
Youth Work Strategy
In 2022-23 we convened a short-life working group - The Youth Work Strategy Equalities Review Group - to ensure that equality, diversity and inclusion and anti-discrimination are fully embedded and become central components of our developing Youth Work Strategy. We aim to publish the Strategy in the coming months.
School Leavers’ Toolkit
In 2022-23, we developed and published a School Leavers Toolkit which can be accessed by young people via Skills Development Scotland’s website: School Leavers Toolkit | My World of Work. We will continue to monitor the number of visits to the Toolkit and ensure it is promoted. We have also asked that Skills Development Scotland maintain and further develop the Toolkit where required.
Tackling the digital divide in further and higher education
Aligned with our Programme for Government commitment, in 2022- 23 we invested £2.9 million in colleges, £1.6 million in universities and £500,000 in community learning and development to support further and higher education providers to purchase digital equipment and provide access to Wi-Fi to enable students who, owing to low incomes, cannot otherwise access online learning.
To date the fund has supported almost 11,000 learners across colleges, universities and within community learning settings. We anticipate this number will increase on receipt of final reporting on the investment for 2022-23, which is expected by the end of this academic year. Moving into 2023-24 we plan to invest a further £5 million in capital to support this commitment.
Enhance the total student support package
In this reporting year, we have worked to increase support for a range of students. On 14 March 2023, we announced an uplift in bursaries and loan packages, meaning that financial support available to undergraduate students will rise by £900 from the start of the 2023-24 academic year.
In this reporting year, we have worked to increase support for a range of students. On 14 March 2023, we announced an uplift in bursaries and loan packages, meaning that financial support available to undergraduate students will rise by £900 from the start of the 2023-24 academic year.
For estranged students in higher education and other undergraduate learners with the lowest household income, their maximum support package will increase from £8,100 to £9,000 per year, and the annual non-repayable Care Experienced Bursary for eligible higher education students will also increase to £9,000.
In further education, a £900 increase will also be applied to the maximum bursary rate available to care experienced students. These increases will be available to students already at college and university and for new students beginning their studies from Autumn 2023.
Investment through the Tackling Child Poverty Fund
‘Best Start, Bright Futures’ is backed by a £50 million Tackling Child Poverty Fund for the period 2022-2026. Recognising the particular pressures low income families faced as a result of the cost of living crisis, investment from this fund was front loaded in 2022-23 to enable the doubling of the final Scottish Child Payment Bridging Payment and provision of emergency food insecurity support.
The table below sets out what has been spent from the Tackling Child Poverty Fund in 2022- 23.
In the year ahead, investment from the fund will continue to support the scaling up of Pathfinder approaches in Glasgow, Dundee and elsewhere, enhanced support for local child poverty action and embedding lived experience in the design and implementation of policies contained within the delivery plan, amongst others.
The table below outlines recorded and provisional levels of investment, correct at the point of publication, all totals expressed are £0.000m:
| Summary of Tackling Child Poverty Investment 2022-23 (£m) | |
|---|---|
| Doubling the Winter 2022 Scottish Child Payment Bridging Payment | 19.000 |
| Emergency food insecurity funding to respond to the cost of living crisis | 1.775 |
| Pathfinders, including evaluation | 0.699 |
| Low income family targeted strategic communications | 0.654 |
| Enhancing local tackling child poverty action | 0.112 |
| Programme Delivery Costs | 1.527 |
| TOTAL | 23.767 |
Investment to support children in poverty
In the 2022-23 financial year, it is estimated that £3 billion was invested across a range of programmes targeted at low-income households. Of this, we estimate that £1.25 billion benefited children. These totals, along with the breakdown of estimated spend on individual programmes, can be seen in table 4 below.
These figures are estimates. They comprise a mixture of outturn, budgeted, and forecasted figures, depending on what was available at the time. Some of the figures are published, whereas others were sourced internally. Furthermore, although we have attempted to stay consistent with the figures included in the equivalent table in previous progress reports, inconsistencies could remain. For policies targeted at all people on a low income, we have given consideration to any additional evidence which would enable us to produce a better estimate and have included footnotes to indicate the methodology used. In the absence of this information we have continued to use the latest statistics on the proportion of people in poverty who are children as in previous years (20% in 2021-22) to derive an estimated spend on children in poverty. We have excluded administration costs where possible.
As in previous years, these estimates do not include spend on universal services from which children in poverty will also benefit, including services focused specifically on children such as funded Early Learning and Childcare and universal Free School Meal provision in primary schools, or wider support including free prescriptions, healthcare or free tuition. Disability benefits have also been excluded from the calculations, these are non-means tested and their purpose is to provide support to help with the additional costs associated with having a disability or long-term health condition. Wider investments such as these are important aspects of our overall strategy to reducing child poverty.
In 2021, we set out a feasibility study looking at how we could improve our modelling of the distributional impacts of our policies, including by integrating the effects of more public spending. We are continuing to look to build on these ambitions, and alongside our Medium Term Financial Strategy published distributional analysis of the combined impact of our tax and social care policies for the first time. We are also evaluating key policies - like No One Left Behind and the Child Poverty Pathfinders - to ensure actions are having the desired impact on child poverty and represent value for money.
Comparative to 2021-22 estimates, this represents an increase of £0.43 billion in spend targeted to low income households in 2022-23, and an increase of £0.15 billion in spend which benefited children.
| Policy | Estimated 2022-23 spend on low income households (£m) | Estimated 2022-23 spend on children in low income households (£m) |
|---|---|---|
| Targeted at low income households with children | ||
| Attainment Scotland Fund | 70.00 | 70.00 |
| Benefit Cap Mitigation[12] | 0.77 | 0.76 |
| Best Start Foods | 12.60 | 12.60 |
| Best Start Grant | 20.60 | 20.60 |
| Bridging Payments[13] | 73.92 | 73.92 |
| Education Maintenance Allowance[14] | 22.00 | 22.00 |
| Expand Family Nurse Partnerships | 11.90 | 11.90 |
| Family Fund[15] | 2.97 | 2.97 |
| Parental Employability Support Fund | 7.60 | 7.60 |
| Promise Partnership Fund | 5.02 | 5.02 |
| Pupil Equity Funding[16] | 130.30 | 130.30 |
| School Attainment Challenge | 11.80 | 11.80 |
| School Clothing Grant | 11.80 | 11.80 |
| School Meal alternate holiday provision | 21.75 | 21.75 |
| School Meals, including Free School Meals | 169.80 | 169.80 |
| Scottish Child Payment | 213.20 | 213.20 |
| STV Children's Appeal | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Whole Family Wellbeing Funding[17] | 8.05 | 8.05 |
| Wraparound / School Age Childcare[18] | 12.20 | 11.45 |
| Total | 807.28 | 806.52 |
| Targeted at low income households – not necessarily with children | ||
| Advice in an Accessible Setting | 1.76 | 1.19 |
| Advice Services[19] | 4.27 | 1.92 |
| Affordable Homes | 713.15 | 142.63 |
| Carer's Allowance | 314.00 | 62.80 |
| Carer's Allowance Supplement | 43.70 | 8.74 |
| Connecting Scotland [20] | 1.60 | 0.32 |
| Council Tax Reduction | 351.00 | 70.20 |
| Cost of Living Payment | 274.00 | 54.80 |
| Discretionary Housing Payments | 83.70 | 13.06 |
| Fair Food Fund | 0.85 | 0.17 |
| Fair Start Scotland | 23.78 | 5.95 |
| Fuel Insecurity Fund | 20.00 | 4.00 |
| Fuel Poverty / Energy Efficiency | 194.31 | 38.86 |
| Funeral Support Payment | 9.80 | 2.00 |
| Island Cost Crisis Emergency Fund | 1.40 | 1.40 |
| Job Start Payment | 0.20 | 0.09 |
| Long term unemployed intermediate labour market opportunities | 11.88 | 2.97 |
| Winter Heating Payment | 19.80 | 3.96 |
| Regeneration Strategy | 96.70 | 19.34 |
| Scottish Welfare Fund | 35.50 | 7.10 |
| Self-Isolation Support Grant | 13.30 | 3.30 |
| Social Innovation Partnership | 2.60 | 2.20 |
| UC Scottish Choices | 0.12 | 0.02 |
| Winter Food Insecurity | 1.78 | 0.36 |
| Total | 2219.20 | 447.38 |
| TOTAL | 3026.48 | 1253.90 |
Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 Requirements
Section 10 of the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 sets out a range of requirements around progress reports. This table explains how we have met those requirements, with directions to the relevant sections or specific pages within the Plan.
Table 5: Summary of Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 requirements
This table also details how we have responded to each of the Poverty and Inequality Commission’s eight recommendations included within their 2022-23 scrutiny report. Responses to comments made by the Commission in relation to specific policies are reflected in the relevant section of this report.
The Scottish Ministers must, before the end of the period of 3 months beginning with the last day of each reporting year, prepare a report (a “progress report”) on the progress made during the year—
- towards meeting the child poverty targets,
- and in implementing the relevant delivery plan.
This is the fifth progress report due under the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017.
Section 2 outlines our approach to assessing progress and presents the most recent data for the four targets.
Progress in implementing the delivery plan (2022-26) is set out in section 1.
A progress report must in particular describe -
The measures taken by the Scottish Ministers in accordance with that delivery plan.
Section 1 sets out key progress in implementing ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’, under thematic areas of focus. Brief updates on actions not contained in this section can be found in table 2.
The effect of those measures on progress towards meeting the child poverty targets.
Section 1 provides impact summaries, where appropriate, for actions aligned to the drivers of child poverty reduction.
Economic Modelling was published alongside the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2022-26 setting out anticipated impacts on the targets. An updated Cumulative Impact Assessment is published alongside this report in Annex B.
The effect of those measures on reducing the number of children living in single-parent households against each of the four targets.
Section 2 presents the most recent child poverty statistics for the six priority families identified in ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’ – including children living in single parent households.
This section also links to a suite of documents reflecting our approach to understanding impacts of child poverty and policy measures on the priority families.
The effect of those measures on children living in households whose income is adversely affected, or whose expenditure is increased, because a member of the household has one or more protected characteristics.
Section 2 presents the most recent child poverty statistics for the six priority families identified in ‘Every Child, Every Chance’ – including children living in families that include a disabled adult or child, minority ethnic families, families with a child under one year old, families with 3 or more children, lone parent families and families where the mother is under 25 years of age.
Annex C sets out our approach to reporting evidence by each of the six priority family types identified, and sets out how best to utilise the priority family concept to inform development and delivery of effective policy.
We will also shortly publish an additional annex detailing an evidence review in relation to the impact of the cost of living crisis for families living in poverty.
If, in preparing a progress report -
Scottish Ministers consider that the measures taken in accordance with the relevant delivery plan have not delivered sufficient progress towards meeting the child poverty targets, the progress report must describe how the Scottish Ministers propose to ensure sufficient progress is delivered in the future.
This report recognises that tough choices will need to be made about existing budgets in order to drive the progress needed, and we will not shy away from the decisions needed to reduce poverty.
In the year ahead we will push forward with the implementation of ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’, and will continue to focus on how we strengthen our partnerships across the public, private and third sectors in order to maximise our collective impacts on child poverty. Section 1 sets out some of our priority actions for 2023- 24.
In preparing a progress report, the Scottish Ministers must -
Consult the Commission on;
- The progress made during the reporting year towards meeting the child poverty targets.
- Whether it appears to the Commission that such progress is sufficient to meet the child poverty targets.
- What further progress the Commission considers is required to meet the child poverty targets.
And, include any comments or recommendations made by the Commission on the matters mentioned above.
The Poverty and Inequality Commission shared their advice with the Scottish Government in May 2023.
The scrutiny received from the Commission is reflected in the table below.
The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 includes requirements for annual progress reports, to be laid by the end of June each year, and both an interim and final report, relating to the 2023-24 and 2030-31 targets respectively.
Section 12 of the Act requires that, within the progress report to be published by the end of June 2031, Scottish Ministers must include a statement on the percentage of children living in poverty under each target measure in the year of the final targets (2030-31), confirm if each target measure has been met, and if not provide an explanation why.
Due to the timing of data collation it will not be possible for Ministers to include a statement on the percentage of children living in poverty (in terms of the four target measures in the Act) in 2030-31 in the final report due to be published by end June 2031, or to state whether the final targets have been met.
Ministers are currently exploring options to remedy this issue and will look to provide an update in the next progress report.
Responding to the recommendations of the Poverty and Inequality Commission:
In relation to the progress made during the reporting year towards meeting the child poverty targets the report of the Commission notes:
“The increase in the Scottish Child Payment to £25 per week and its roll out to eligible under-16s during 2022-23 undoubtedly represents significant progress in tackling child poverty. It will make a real difference to the lives of children and families across Scotland.
Less progress has been made on some of the other key actions in Best Start, Bright Futures and the Commission is concerned that there does not seem to be the necessary clarity or sense of urgency about delivery of these actions.”
The report recognises the extraordinarily difficult macroeconomic conditions with some of the most challenging economic circumstances in living memory. To that end difficult choices had to be made within a fixed budget to prioritise spending on immediate support for those struggling with the cost of living crisis in 2022-23. As a result, we have made less progress in some areas in this reporting year than intended but overall Scottish Government decisions have prioritised support to those who need it most.
The challenging economic climate has meant it has not been possible to commence delivery of some actions at the scale and pace originally envisaged. For example, the current difficult tendering climate, due to inflation and high costs, has led to a slowing of approvals and starts for affordable homes, but section 1 of the report sets out the steps which are being put in place to mitigate these challenges.
As reflected in section 1, key steps across 2022-23 have been taken including, amongst others, commencing our Whole Family Wellbeing Funding, establishing our early adopting school age childcare communities and doubling the fuel insecurity fund.
Tackling child poverty and protecting people from harm is the Scottish Government’s priority and remains at the heart of this Government’s work and priorities with our partners. This will mean hard choices, and key steps for 2023-24 are set out in section 1 of the report.
In relation to whether it appears to the Commission that such progress is sufficient to meet the child poverty targets the report of the Commission notes:
“Based on the available data and modelling, the Commission considers that it is unlikely that the Scottish Government will meet the interim targets in 2023-24. Nevertheless, the Commission does expect there to be a substantial reduction in child poverty due to the Scottish Child Payment and the importance of this to children and families should not be underestimated.
The Commission’s view is that there is a very high likelihood that the Scottish Government will miss the 2030 child poverty targets, unless it substantially increases the pace and scale of delivery.”
As reflected in section 2, the latest statistics show that child poverty rates are broadly stable. The challenging economic climate has meant it has not been possible to commence delivery of some key actions at the scale we had originally envisaged.
In spite of this, the Scottish Government continues to take significant actions toward the targets, including the Scottish Child Payment which is set to help lift 50,000 children out of poverty this year.
Our cumulative impact assessment (annex B) estimates that relative and absolute child poverty will be 9 percentage points lower than it would have been in the absence of Scottish Government policies, meaning around 19% of children could be living in poverty in 2023- 24. However this modelling is subject to a degree of uncertainty as is the case with any economic modelling.
As detailed below, we are committed to doing all we can to deliver at the pace and scale required to ensure meeting the targets, and will not shy away from making difficult choices where needed.
Section one of this report outlines plans to increase investment in key actions to tackle the drivers of child poverty, including a further £15 million to continue to design an all-year-round system of school age childcare and over £108 million in employability support in 2023-24.
In relation to what further progress the Commission considers is required to meet the child poverty targets the report of the Commission notes:
“The Scottish Child Payment is driving most of the progress towards the interim targets, but there will not be any single policy that can deliver the further reduction needed to meet the 2030 targets. The 2030 targets can only be met through delivering a range of actions that work together to transform our economy and deliver fair work, create the conditions to support parents who are able to work, provide adequate social security for those who are not able to work and reduce housing costs.”
“The Scottish Government must focus on delivering with urgency and at scale and commit to the funding required to deliver the action needed.”
Tackling poverty and protecting people from harm is one of three critical and interdependent missions for the Scottish Government. As set out in the Medium Term Financial Strategy, the Scottish Government will prioritise the programmes which have the greatest impact on delivery of the three missions set out in our policy prospectus.
The Scottish Government will continue to work closely across government and with partners across Scotland toward our national mission to tackle child poverty.
As set out in ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’, and reflected in this progress report, we know that action across all three drivers of child poverty is required to meet our ambitious targets. It is clear that action requires to be scaled up to reach more of the six priority families. Section 1 outlines the plans to scale key actions in employability, childcare and holistic support, as well as increasing action on income maximisation and social security.
As reflected below, the Scottish Government’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation set out our ambition for a wellbeing economy, thriving across economic, social and environmental dimensions. Specifically, one of the key ambitions is for a fairer Scotland, ensuring that work pays for everyone through better wages and fair work, reducing poverty and improving life chances.
The Commission provided 8 recommendations in relation to further progress required to meet the child poverty targets:
1: The Scottish Government must focus on delivery, and delivering with urgency and at scale.
Scottish Ministers have heard the Commission’s call to focus on delivering with the urgency, pace and scale required. This reflects the insight from stakeholders and partners at our recent anti-poverty summit.
The uniquely challenging macroeconomic conditions of this reporting year have meant that it has not been possible to commence delivery of some actions at the scale and pace originally envisaged. As the First Minister has been clear the Scottish Government is driving forward progress and section 1 sets out some of our priorities for 2023-24.
As set out in the introduction, robust governance arrangements have been put in place to oversee the implementation of the delivery plan, including the creation of a new Tackling Child Poverty Programme Board. These structures enable accountability for delivery and progress across the components of ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’.
2: The Scottish Government must commit to funding the actions required to meet the child poverty targets.
Table 4 sets out the estimated investment of £3 billion across a range of programmes targeted at low income households, with £1.25 billion directly benefitting children. This includes over £213 million on the Scottish Child Payment and over £169 million on School Meals.
As set out in the Medium Term Financial Strategy, the Scottish Government will prioritise the programmes which have the greatest impact on delivery of the three missions set out in our policy prospectus, including tackling poverty and protecting people from harm.
3: The Scottish Government must be clearer about what it aims to achieve with its actions and how it will know if it is being successful.
The Scottish Government’s Child Poverty governance arrangements, established in 2022-23, work to align policies in our focus on impacting child poverty. These structures enable accountability for delivery and progress across the components of ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’ as well as focusing on performance against outcomes and progress on evaluation.
It is important to understand whether and how policies are being successful in supporting families in poverty. In order to maximise consistency of our evaluation approach, an evaluation framework was recently published. The framework is intended as a guide rather than a prescriptive tool. Each individual policy is different, and therefore the framework is intended to be adjusted to policy needs. Work continues across government and partners to build on new evidence to improve and adapt our approach where necessary. To underpin this, a review of progress will be undertaken 18 months following publication of the evaluation framework.
4: The Scottish Government should revisit the National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET) to ensure that addressing poverty is a core strand that runs through every aspect of the strategy.
NSET set out our ambition for a wellbeing economy, thriving across economic, social and environmental dimensions. Specifically, one of the key ambitions is for a fairer Scotland, ensuring that work pays for everyone through better wages and fair work, reducing poverty and improving life chances.
Progress towards achieving that ambition will be tracked by a range of metrics, set out within the NSET Delivery Plans published in October 2022. As the detail on programme delivery refines or changes, we will be flexible and continue to develop the measures.
The policy prospectus reiterated that at the heart of a wellbeing economy is economic growth for a purpose, to drive improved living standards, promote wellbeing, reduce poverty and deliver sustainable high quality public services. Furthermore, in committing to delivering NSET, it highlighted the need for a sharp focus on those policies and actions with the greatest potential to grow and transform Scotland’s economy, expand the tax base to fund excellent public services and make people’s lives better.
The Scottish Government will continue to test and refine the actions within NSET to ensure they have the greatest impact in transforming the Scottish economy, driving significant reduction in child poverty.
5: The Scottish Government must maximise the impact of all its spending by actively pursuing opportunities to join up policies across government.
‘Best Start, Bright Futures’ represents close cross-government working with 101 actions across Scottish Government Directorates.
The Scottish Government’s Child Poverty governance arrangements, established in 2022-23, work to align policies in our focus on impacting child poverty. These structures enable accountability for delivery and progress across the components of the Plan as well as focusing on performance against outcomes and progress on evaluation.
Supported by our governance structures, there is close working across policy teams to identify and forge connections. For example, our person-centred support includes linking a variety of programmes including whole family wellbeing funding, Keeping the Promise, mental health and children’s services. Similarly, our Pathfinders work closely together to share evidence and learning and improve our delivery approach across projects
6: The Scottish Government must improve the way it embeds previous learning and existing knowledge into its policy processes.
The Scottish Government recognises the interest in Pathfinder initiatives, because of the need to find new service delivery models that meet people’s needs, and do so more effectively and efficiently than current approaches. While the support of service users for a holistic approach to delivery is well attested, and confirmed in Phase 1 of the pathfinder evaluation, the overall cost effectiveness of the approach, and its wider replicability requires further investigation. This is particularly necessary if there is an expectation of scaling up. Understanding the sustainability of impacts, and direct and indirect costs will enable a surer foundation for future expansion.
After a thorough exploration of options, supported by the Evaluation Assessment produced in Phase 1, Ministers have agreed to commission further research for Phase 2 of the evaluation, which is set to commence in Autumn 2023. In the interim, we are gathering insights on system change from a range of placebased initiatives and will be publishing the first outputs of this work later in 2023.
7: The Scottish Government must continue to improve the transparency of its reporting on funding allocations.
The Scottish Government continuously works to improve the openness and transparency of the public finances in Scotland, to enable better understanding and scrutiny for all, including the public.
Our annual progress reports detail our spend on tackling child poverty. This report includes summaries of investment through the Tackling Child Poverty Fund (table 3) and investment to support children in poverty (table 4).
The annual Scottish Budget details our funding allocations. Amid challenging economic circumstances, the Emergency Budget Review clearly set out the Government’s decisive action to prioritise spend to those who need it most.
The interaction between funding and spending announcements can be complex and multifaceted. To assist both Parliament and the public additional information has been provided in the detailed ‘Guides to the Budget Revision’ which are prepared as part of the in year budget process. These documents provide detailed analysis of changes to budget allocations and how funding is being utilised. These documents have been praised by the Finance and Public Administration Committee for the increased detail provided and are available online.
8: The Scottish Government must continue to improve the quality and utility of its analytical outputs in relation to child poverty.
Progress towards the four child poverty targets are reported from data available on the Family Resources Survey (for relative poverty, absolute poverty, and low income and material deprivation) and on Understanding Society (for persistent poverty).
Progress towards the targets is reported annually. The Scottish Government has funded a 100% boost to the Scottish Family Resources Survey sample since the early 2000s, which before the pandemic resulted in an achieved sample size of just over 3,000. It should be noted that response rates to surveys have been falling for quite some time now, exacerbated by restrictions imposed during the pandemic, which highlights the importance for an enhanced and effective use of the full range of available sources of evidence to properly assess the impact of actions to reduce levels of child poverty.
Scottish Government analysts will take stock of survey response rates and the full range of evidence as we look forward to reporting on the interim and final child poverty targets. We will also take account of long-term developments in survey methodologies being explored by a range of survey commissioners adapting to declining participation.
From our overview of the issues facing the priority family types, there is already a good understanding of the structural barriers experienced by these groups, and what needs to be done to mitigate those barriers. The challenge going forward will be to evidence how this knowledge is being implemented in practice at national and local level, and what impact that is having.
This will be complemented by policy specific evidence, for example Social Security Scotland plans to publish a statistical report on equalities by the end of this summer, which will include equalities statistics for all Scottish Government benefits.
The Scottish Government will consider how we can make modelling work more open and accessible. We will aim to continue to publish the annex with updated modelling, as part of the publication of the Child Poverty Progress Report, going forward.
However economic modelling can only provide us with estimates and is subject to a degree of uncertainty.
Contact
Email: tcpu@gov.scot
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