Winter Heating Payment (Low Income) (Scotland): child rights and wellbeing impact assessment

What evidence have you used to inform your assessment?

31. A variety of information sources were used in compiling this CRWIA, including:

• Scottish Health Survey^[9] 2019 and 2020;
• Scottish Household Survey^[10] and Scottish House Condition Survey^[11];
• Scotland’s Census 2011^[12];
• Equality Evidence Finder^[13];
• Social Security Experience Panel findings^[14]; and
• Low Income Winter Heating Assistance Consultation^[15].

Poverty in children and young people

32. Child poverty and material deprivation is associated with both immediate and long term health issues; cognitive, social, emotional and behavioural development concerns; as well as a negative impact on young people's future life prospects^[16].

33. It is estimated that 24% of children (240,000 children each year) were living in relative poverty after housing costs in 2017-2020. Before housing costs, it is estimated that 21% of children (210,000 children each year) were in relative poverty^[17]. Children in this context refers to ‘dependent children’; a dependent child is a person either aged 0-15, or aged 16-19 and: not married nor in a Civil Partnership nor living with a partner, and living with their parents, and in full-time non-advanced education or in unwaged government training.

34. We also know that children in households with a disabled person were more likely to be in poverty (30%) than in other households (21%)^[18]. The significance of the poverty rate is key as the longer that children experience poverty, the greater the damage to their health, wellbeing and life chances^[19]. From birth, without support, children living in poverty are twice as likely to fall behind their peers in all aspects of their development.

35. Between 2018 and 2020, 37% of households in Scotland with dependent children were financially vulnerable in comparison to 28% of households without any dependent children^[20]. A household is ‘financially vulnerable’ if there are not enough savings to cover basic living costs for three months. Basic living costs include average costs of rent, food and fuel, such as gas and electricity. The groups of households that are most likely to be financially vulnerable (workless, young, with children, lone parents) are often small, so the bulk of financially vulnerable households is made up of households with different characteristics.

36. Lack of money (regardless of the precise measure used) also appears to be independently associated with worse child health outcomes^[21]. Studies show that there are significant negative effects of cold housing in terms of infants’ weight gain, hospital admission rates, developmental status, and the severity and frequency of asthmatic symptoms.^[22]

Fuel poverty

37. The Scottish House Condition Survey data (December 2019)^[23] indicates that around 613,000 households (24.6%) in Scotland live in fuel poverty, with 311,000 (12.4%) of them living in extreme fuel poverty. Around 16% of households in fuel poverty are families with children.

38. A report by the Children’s Commission on Poverty in 2013 surveyed around 2,000 children between the ages of 10 and 17. Children were asked about the level of warmth in their homes during the winter. Over half of children who said that their family is ‘not well off at all’ (54%) also said that their homes were much or a bit colder than they would have liked and a quarter said that their home had damp or mould^[24]. Children and young people living in damp, mouldy homes are more prone to respiratory problems, potentially leading to sleep loss and restrictions on children's daily activities. Housing quality can also impact on educational attainment, for example if there is insufficient quiet, warm space for children to do their homework^[25].

39. In a 2015 study commissioned by Affordable Warmth Solutions (AWS) and undertaken by The Children’s Society (TCS) and National Energy Action (NEA) which included 20 households, with a total of 20 adult participants and 35 children and young people, the following conclusions were reached. The effects of fuel poverty are far-reaching, spanning different areas of life (personal, social, economic) and penetrating deep into the rhythms and patterns of daily living. Attempts to cope with any given aspect of fuel poverty often result in aggravating other aspects of the problem, and people thereby unwittingly undermine their own efforts to manage.

40. The financial and emotional resources required to cope with the effects of fuel poverty leave inadequate room for pursuing dreams or for coping with life’s other hardships. The effects of intervening to alleviate fuel poverty are far-reaching, with the potential to break cycles of negative consequence and foster positive outcomes in emotional and social, as well as economic, terms. The report makes a variety of policy recommendations including the provision of energy bill support and income support, in particular to the most vulnerable families with dependent children^[26].

41. The introduction of WHP will provide guaranteed support to families on low incomes with young children (under the age of 5) or those with disabled children. Whilst we acknowledge that the cost of living crisis has had a significant effect, especially for those on lower incomes, WHP has the potential to have a positive impact for families with children and young people. The removal of the weather dependency aspect of this will provide around 400,000 households with an annual payment of £50. This will be an investment of around £20 million each year to support people towards the costs of heating their homes no matter what the weather or temperature.