UN Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review - fourth cycle recommendations: Scottish Government response

7. Poverty and Welfare

A) Tackling Poverty

Recommendation(s) and Responses

Relevant section(s) of the Scottish Government’s October 2022 UPR Position Statement

• 7(A) – Child Poverty
• 7(B) – Social Security
• 7(C) – Welfare Reform Mitigation
• 7(D) – Housing and Homelessness

Recent Progress and Next Steps

Child poverty

The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 (“the 2017 Act”)^[135] sets in statute ambitious income-based targets to significantly reduce child poverty by 2030-31, with interim targets to be met in 2023-24.

The 2017 Act also establishes a robust framework for taking action and monitoring progress. The Scottish Ministers are required by the Act to publish Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plans^[136] identifying the action being taken to drive progress towards the child poverty targets. Ministers must publish annual reports on progress made towards meeting the child poverty targets and in implementing the relevant Delivery Plan.

The most recent annual progress report^[137], published in June 2023, highlights that 40 of the 101 actions set out in our second Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan, ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’^[138], are either complete or delivering at scale with a further 39 in progress. The report also shows that in 2022-23 we invested an estimated £3 billion across a range of programmes targeted at low income households, with an estimated £1.25 billion directly benefitting children. Key actions taken over the reporting period have included:

• Delivery of the planned expansion and further increase in the value of our Scottish Child Payment from 14 November 2022, which is projected to lift 50,000 children out of relative poverty in 2023-24;
• Investment of around £84 million in Discretionary Housing Payments to support people with housing costs and mitigate the UK Government’s bedroom tax, including making £2.6 million available to mitigate the UK Government’s Benefit Cap as fully as is possible within the scope of devolved powers;
• The introduction of legislation to freeze rents in the private and social rented sector and increase protections for tenants in response to the cost of living crisis;
• A doubling of investment in our Fuel Insecurity Fund to £20 million in 2022-23 and tripling investment to £30 million in 2023-24;
• A doubling of the final Bridging Payment made to low income families with school age children to £260 per child, benefitting 143,000 children in December 2022. Bridging Payments were introduced to provide support to these families ahead of the full roll-out of Scottish Child Payment on 14 November 2022 and provided almost £170 million in direct financial support over two years.

Alongside the annual progress report, the Scottish Government published modelling^[139] estimating that 90,000 fewer children will live in relative and absolute poverty in 2023-24, with poverty levels 9% lower that they would otherwise have been.

The Scottish Government will continue to focus on strengthening the support available to families in order to mitigate the ongoing cost of living crisis and to break the cycle of child poverty in Scotland. Particular areas of focus for 2023-24 include:

• Supporting families by introducing regulations that remove income thresholds and so increase eligibility for Best Start Foods, to around an additional 20,000 people from February 2024.
• Launching Carer Support Payment in pilot areas from November 2023, expanding to more areas from spring 2024, to be available nationally by autumn 2024.
• Investing a further £15 million to continue to design an all-year-round system of school age childcare, and a further £4.5 million of capital funding to help local authorities provide school age childcare and holiday clubs, targeted to help those from low-income households.
• Continuing to implement Whole Family Wellbeing Funding, driving whole system change to deliver a long-term shift towards earlier, preventative intervention.
• Delivering the actions set out in the refreshed Fair Work Action Plan^[140] and publishing an evidence plan in late 2023 along with an accompanying measurement framework to monitor the fair work context and progress we are making over time.
• Working with business leaders to agree a set of actions that business can take to support the transition to a wellbeing economy within the frame of the New Deal for Business.
• Building on emerging evidence to support targeted scale up and sharing of learning around place based transformation.

In March each year, the Scottish Government publishes an analysis of poverty and income inequality in Scotland, alongside a separate child poverty update. Additional child poverty analysis is also published on ad-hoc basis as required. The latest analyses and statistics can be accessed at: Child poverty analysis - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

Social Security

We are now delivering 13 devolved social security benefits - seven of which are entirely new forms of financial support available only in Scotland.

Income delivered via social security benefits is a key driver in tackling poverty in Scotland and strengthening support for families. Ensuring that people access all of the social security benefits to which they are entitled is therefore a fundamental priority for the Scottish Government.

The Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018^[141] establishes a legal duty for the Scottish Ministers to promote the take-up of benefits within the Scottish social security system. As part of our duties under the 2018 Act, the Scottish Government must periodically publish a benefit take-up strategy. The second Benefit Take-Up Strategy was published in October 2021.^[142]

For winter 2022/23 we introduced our thirteenth benefit, Winter Heating Payment^[143], which provided 394,135 low income households with a payment of £50 (£55.05 from winter 2023/24) to support heating bills, a total investment of £19.7 million.

In November 2022 the Scottish Child Payment (“SCP”)^[144] was extended to eligible families with children aged under 16, and the rate was increased to £25 per week per child. SCP expenditure in 2023/24, the first full year of full roll-out, is forecast to be £405 million.

The Scottish Government has maintained the Scottish Welfare Fund (“SWF”) budget at £41 million in 2023-2024^[145] to support poverty reduction. The SWF provides a vital safety net which has paid out in excess of £390 million in emergency funds to more than half a million households over the last ten years.

In April 2023 all devolved Scottish benefits were updated in line with inflation, by 10.1%, at a cost of around £430 million. This uprating included benefits where uprating is a statutory requirement, as well as those where uprating is discretionary, in recognition of the difficulties being faced by many due to the increased cost of living. The SCP was increased by 25% in November 2022 – bringing forward its uprating by 4 months and increasing its rate above inflation. There is a statutory requirement to review the SCP annually and any further increases will take effect in April 2024.

The Scottish Government published a Scottish Welfare Fund Action Plan^[146] in June 2023. This set out a total of 22 actions for the SWF to improve administration, data collection, accessibility, and experience. Improvements have been identified to better address unmet need and make decisions more consistent across the country.

In line with the Scottish Fiscal Commission forecasts^[147] we are investing £5.3 billion in 2023-24 in devolved benefits which will reach around 1.2 million people. This will rise to £7.4 billion in 2027-28. The Scottish Government is clear that expenditure on Social Security benefits is an investment in the people of Scotland and is key to our national mission to tackle child poverty, help low-income families with their living costs and help disabled people live full and independent lives.

For winter 2023/24 the Winter Heating Payment is being uprated by 10.1%, to £55.05 per qualifying benefit household, recognising the particularly challenging consequences of increases in gas, electricity and other fuel costs.

Our fourteenth benefit, Carer Support Payment,^[148] is replacing Carer’s Allowance in Scotland from November 2023, with a phased national roll out from spring 2024 and available nationally by Autumn 2024. This benefit will extend eligibility to more carers in full-time education, removing barriers to study, and will help to link carers to wider support and services.

Carers receiving Carer Support Payment will continue to benefit from the additional support provided through Carer’s Allowance Supplement.

Benefit statistics, including for Winter Heating Payment and Scottish Child Payment, are published: Social Security Scotland statistics: publications - gov.scot (www.gov.scot). Further social security policy research is available at: Social security policy research and evaluation: publications - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

Homelessness

In January 2023, the Scottish Government introduced the fuller benefit cap mitigation policy as part of the child poverty plan ‘Best Start, Bright Futures^[149]’. In Scotland in 2022/23, 98% of households affected by the benefit cap were families and 72% were lone parent families.

An additional £2.6 million of Discretionary Housing Payment (“DHP”) funding was made available to local authorities from 1^st January 2023 so they could mitigate the benefit cap as far as possible. In 2023/24 the Scottish Government has made £6.2 million available for benefit cap mitigation, in-line with Scottish Fiscal Commission forecasts. An additional £7.9 million will help mitigate the damaging impact of other UK Government welfare cuts including changes to the Local Housing Allowance rates.

By the end of 2023-2024 the Scottish Government will have invested more than £520 million in DHPs since 2017. This includes £69.7 million in 2023-2024 to fully mitigate the bedroom tax to help over 92,000 households in Scotland to sustain their tenancies. The Scottish Government is also committed to abolishing the bedroom tax at source as soon as possible using Universal Credit flexibility powers.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission’s forecasts for DHPs are available at: Scotland’s Economic and Fiscal Forecasts – May 2023 | Scottish Fiscal Commission and further DHP statistics have been published: Scottish Government social security statistics publications - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

Relevant National Outcomes

• We respect, protect and fulfil human rights and live free from discrimination.
• We tackle poverty by sharing opportunities, wealth and power more equally.

Relevant Sustainable Development Goals

• 1 - End poverty in all its forms everywhere.
• 10 - Reduce inequality within and among countries.

B) Housing and Homelessness

Recommendation(s) and Responses

Relevant section(s) of the Scottish Government’s October 2022 UPR Position Statement

• 7(D) – Housing and Homelessness

Recent Progress and Next Steps

Housing

Work is continuing to deliver Housing to 2040^[150], our first long-term national housing strategy. This includes taking action to realise the right to adequate housing in Scotland, alongside subsequent commitments in our New Deal for Tenants Draft Rented Sector Strategy Consultation^[151] and through the Bute House Agreement to strengthen tenants’ rights and improving the affordability and quality of homes across the social and private rented sectors in Scotland.

In response to the ongoing cost crisis, the Scottish Parliament passed the emergency Cost of Living (Tenant Protection)(Scotland) Act 2022^[152] in October 2022, as a temporary response to direct impact the cost crisis was having on those who rent their home. The Act introduced a cap on in-tenancy rent increases (initially set at 0%), a moratorium on the enforcement of eviction orders except in specific circumstances and strengthened the awarding of damages for unlawful evictions. The provisions applied across the private and social rented sectors and purpose built student accommodation.

The rent cap provisions for the social sector were expired in February, following a voluntary agreement on rent setting being reached with local authority social housing and Registered Social Landlord providers. They have also been suspended for purpose built student accommodation.

In April, the Scottish Parliament passed regulations to increase the rent cap for the private rented sector from 0% to 3% and to extend the Act for a further 6 months, to 30 September.

Formal governance processes have been established to support the delivery of Housing to 2040 including:

• a Strategic Board to provide strategic oversight and support sector-wide delivery of Housing to 2040 (which comprises of Scottish Ministers, the COSLA Wellbeing Spokesperson and senior stakeholders); and
• an internal Steering Group comprising Scottish Government senior officials, which provides operational level assurance of progress and supports cross-government working.

Work continues in relation to the operation of the emergency temporary legislation under the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022 and to progress delivery of further permanent reform to the rented sector including a national system of rent control as well as strengthening.

On 1 June, further regulations^[153] were laid before Parliament to extend the emergency Act for a further, and final, 6 month period to March 2024 (retaining the provisions as they currently stand).

As part of our legal duty to raise awareness of the temporary emergency measures and to inform future rented sector reform work, a stakeholder engagement strategy is being developed and will be taken forward over the next 6 months. This engagement work complements our short-life PRS stakeholder group and our Local Authority working group which have been established to provide an opportunity for stakeholders to input into rent control policy as it is developed, to inform the framework to be included in primary legislation. The group also provides a mechanism for stakeholders to feed into other future proposed reforms to the private rented sector.

Further information is available from the following sources:

• Private sector rental statistics - Private Sector Rent Statistics, Scotland, 2010 to 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
• Scottish House Condition Survey - Scottish House Condition Survey - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
• Scottish Household Survey – Scottish Household Survey - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Homelessness

Our homelessness strategy, Ending Homelessness Together^[154], is supported by a £100 million fund until the end of this parliamentary term. This funding is supporting councils to make the transition to rapid rehousing and Housing First^[155]. Housing First provides settled accommodation with intensive support for people experiencing homelessness who have complex needs. As of March 2023, over 1,400 Housing First tenancies had started across Scotland.

Since October 2022, we have taken further steps to strengthen rights for people experiencing homelessness. We have modified the local connection rules so that people no longer need to have a local connection to the area where they make a homelessness presentation. They have the freedom to settle wherever they choose – whether that is to access support, take advantage of job opportunities or have a fresh start.

Frontline organisations continue to report that the number of people rough sleeping remains lower than pre-pandemic levels in the centres of Edinburgh and Glasgow, where rough sleeping is usually concentrated.

We have worked closely with local authorities and third sector partners to ensure there has been no return to night shelter or dormitory style provision by continuing to support the implementation of rapid rehousing welcome centres (“RRWCs”) in Glasgow and Edinburgh over the winter months.

RRWCs provide safe and self-contained rapid access accommodation alongside multi-agency services which support people at risk of rough sleeping to access appropriate support services and move onto settled accommodation, including Housing First.

The UK Government’s no recourse to public funds policy prevents local and national government from providing support to people and remains the biggest barrier to eradicating rough sleeping in Scotland. We have continued to do all we can within devolved powers to support people with no recourse to public funds to avoid destitution.

Since October 2022 we have provided over £207,000 of funding to ensure RRWCs operated over winter 2022/23 in Glasgow and Edinburgh. RRWCs are open to everyone.

We have also provided £43,000 of funding to frontline homelessness organisations for personalised budgets. These empower frontline staff to make immediate decisions centred around the specific needs of each individual in order to prevent rough sleeping and assist people to access support in a dignified way.

We are taking steps to reduce the number of homeless households in temporary accommodation, including by investing at least £60 million in 2023-24 to support a national acquisition plan to increase the supply of social and affordable housing. This funding will support councils and registered social landlords to purchase properties including empty homes and private sector homes. Other measures we are taking include working with social landlords to increase allocations to homeless households and maximising the use of existing homes for homeless households.

We are also exploring additional personalised budget funding for frontline organisations across Scotland to continue to prevent rough sleeping and ensure those at risk of or experiencing acute homelessness receive immediate support.

Affordable Housing Supply Programme

We have committed to delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, of which at least 70% will be available for social rent and 10% will be in our remote, rural and island communities. To end March 2023 we have delivered 11,570 homes against this target with 79% of these for social rent.

We are making £3.5 billion available over the period 2021 to 2026 to help deliver more affordable homes.

We continue to work closely with partners to deliver more affordable homes as quickly as possible. As part of efforts to reduce the number of households living in temporary accommodation we have also committed to invest at least £60 million this year through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme to support a national acquisition plan.

Further information is available in the Affordable Housing Supply Programme quarterly statistics.

Relevant National Outcomes

• We respect, protect and fulfil human rights and live free from discrimination.
• We tackle poverty by sharing opportunities, wealth and power more equally.

Relevant Sustainable Development Goals

• 1 - End poverty in all its forms everywhere.
• 10 - Reduce inequality within and among countries.

C) Food Insecurity

Recommendation(s) and Responses

Relevant section(s) of the Scottish Government’s October 2022 UPR Position Statement

7(C) – Food Insecurity

Recent Progress and Next Steps

We continue to measure food insecurity through the Scottish Health Survey^[156], following recommendations from the Independent Working Group on Food Poverty, and through the UK-wide Family Resources Survey. We use national data published by the Trussell Trust and Independent Food Aid Network as an additional indicative tool.

In June 2023 the Scottish Government published Cash-First: Towards Ending the Need for Food Banks in Scotland (“Cash-First Plan”)^[157]. This sets out our human rights based approach to tackling food insecurity and details nine actions that we will take in collaboration with partners over the next three years to improve the response to financial hardship and start to reduce the need for emergency food parcels. Scotland is the first nation in the UK to have a plan of this nature and the learning from this and wider actions in the Cash-First Plan will help to identify measures that move us closer towards our longer term ambition of a Scotland without the need for food banks.

In November 2022, we issued £30 million in capital funding to local authorities to continue the phased expansion of free school meal support for primary children. The funding was to be used to support capital costs incurred in delivering free school meals expansion to include all pupils in primary 5, and to prepare for further expansion to include pupils in primaries 6 and 7.

As set out in our new Cash-First Plan, we will take forward nine collaborative actions over the next three years to improve the response to financial hardship and start to reduce the need for emergency food parcels. This includes a £1.8 million Cash-First Programme which will provide funding and practical assistance to up to eight area-based Partnerships to support urgent access to cash in a crisis alongside wider support. We will monitor the progress of this programme to better understand the needs and priorities of households and communities to strengthen rights-based action on food insecurity across Scotland.

Linked to this, the Scottish Government is progressing work with partners, including Public Health Scotland, NHS Scotland and local authorities, to ensure robust pathways are in place locally to meet the particular needs of families with infants under 1 facing financial crisis. This has included bringing together key stakeholders to share existing good practice, identify evidence gaps, and agree shared principles for delivery of consistent, coordinated and well communicated local emergency pathways to access stage one formula milk.

We are continuing to work with key delivery partners on our free school meal expansion programme. The next phase of this will see provision extended to Primary 6 & 7 pupils whose families are in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment. This will be the next step towards delivering universal free school meals for all primary school pupils.

Further information is available from:

Annual Scottish Health Survey

UK-wide Family Resources Survey

Trussell Trust Latest Statistics

Independent Food Aid Network Data

Annual Pupil Census

Annual School Healthy Living Survey Statistics

Relevant National Outcomes

• We are healthy and active.
• We respect, protect and fulfil human rights and live free from discrimination.
• We tackle poverty by sharing opportunities, wealth and power more equally.

Relevant Sustainable Development Goals

• 1 - End poverty in all its forms everywhere.
• 2 - End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.
• 3 - Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.