Recent days have seen a round of cuts announced to social security, which the UK Government’s own impact assessment shows will increase poverty. But new analysis shows that the Westminster government could cut child poverty in the UK by a sixth if they were to match Scotland’s investment in social security. The analysis comes as the annual poverty statistics show that a growing gap is emerging between the poverty rates of Scottish children, when compared to those in the rest of the UK.
In a new briefing, the Changing Realities collaboration, led by Professor Ruth Patrick of the University of York and London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), sets out how the UK Government could switch the dial on child poverty, and shares the priorities of change for parents living in poverty in the UK today.
The Scottish Government has provided targeted investment at families with children, including through the flagship Scottish Child Payment, which provides £26.70 per child per week for families on a low-income. This means that a family with three children would receive almost £5,500 more a year in household income than their English counterpart. If the UK Government were to match this investment (equivalent to £400 per child per year), they could reduce child poverty by 700,000 overnight. This would be equivalent to a reduction in child poverty of 5 percentage points.
The UK Government has committed to publishing a Child Poverty Strategy this year, promising action to address the ‘moral stain’ of child poverty. But recent announcements will drive poverty in the wrong direction and a change of course is urgently needed, say researchers. The latest poverty statistics show that 23% of children in Scotland were living in poverty in 2023/24. This compares with 31% of children in England and Wales.
Parents taking part in Changing Realities have set out the urgent need for change, pointing to how hard they currently find it to make ends meet, and the importance of providing decent, dignified support through the social security system.
Tayyaba Siddiqui a working parent from London, and a participant in Changing Realities said:
“My child is affected every day by our poverty. It doesn't have to be this way. I would like the Government to follow Scotland's lead and invest in our social security system. That investment is so long overdue and could change lives, and over night. Surely my son and all the others in poverty deserve nothing less.”
Ruth Patrick, Professor in Social Policy at the University of York and Visiting Professor at LSE’s Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE), said:
“Enough is enough. We need to see action on child poverty and we need to see it now. The UK Government seems to have lost their way on tackling this pernicious policy problem that blights lives, and robs children of their childhood and their futures. The progress Scotland has made on driving poverty rates down shows another way is possible. The UK Government could lift 700,000 children out of poverty overnight by matching Scotland’s fiscal commitment to driving poverty down.”
The full briefing is here: https://changingrealities.org/writings/cuts-can-t-fix-child-poverty-it-s-time-for-a-new-approach