Campaigners “bitterly disappointed” as Budget vote “stalls progress on child poverty”

Responding to today's final Holyrood vote on the Scottish Budget the Director of the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland, John Dickie, said;

"It is bitterly disappointing that the Finance Secretary has failed to deliver the £30 Scottish child payment that the First Minister said he wanted to see, and at the same time has cut a housing budget vital to bringing down the housing costs that push too many children into poverty. Along with a failure to adequately fund the expansion of childcare and employment support central to the government's own child poverty delivery plan it means this Budget amounts to, at best, a stalling of the very real recent progress made by the Scottish government." 

Along with other members of the End Child Poverty coalition, CPAG in Scotland sent a Budget Scorecard to all MSPs ahead of the vote. Their scorecard concludes that there is a lack of concerted further investment in the social security, childcare, housing and employment infrastructure needed. They say that Budget choices – such as funding a Council Tax freeze that will disproportionately benefit better off households whilst providing little if any support for low-income families –do not align with the Government’s stated priority of tackling poverty. They welcome the progressive changes to income tax but say that when set against the resources spent on the council tax freeze, they do not raise the significant new revenue needed to invest in meeting Scotland’s child poverty targets.

Mr. Dickie continued:

Child poverty doesn’t just damage children’s lives, it ratchets up huge costs for all of us as we pay for poorer health, undermined education, and diminished life chances. Child poverty is a brake on our economy – we need to release that brake by investing in the social security and public service infrastructure needed to prevent it. It’s absolutely right that those of us who have the means contribute more through tax to help fund that investment. All Scotland’s political leaders must work together to harness the resources that are needed to end child poverty once and for all.  Investing in the action needed to increase parental employment and reduce child poverty all helps to grow the tax base and put Scotland’s public finances on a more sustainable footing, we need to see more of that investment – not less.”

ENDS 

For further comment or interviews contact John Dickie, Director of CPAG in Scotland on 07795 340 618.

Notes

  1. By law the Scottish child payment must increase with inflation, and the Scottish Budget sees it rise from £25 to £26.70 per week in line with September’s CPI inflation rate. However, this is not nearly enough to ‘shift the dial’ on child poverty as the First Minister promised. 
  2. CPAG were one of over 150 signatories to an open letter sent to the First Minister Humza Yousaf last year urging him to ensure his first Budget provided significant additional investment across government portfolios to tackle child poverty, and in particular to increase the Scottish Child Payment. The open letter can be found at https://endchildpoverty.org.uk/letter_to_first_minister/ 
  3. CPAG also signed an open letter on 18th December calling on all Scotland’s political leaders to build a consensus on fair tax to support social investment. It can be found here https://bit.ly/FairTaxOpenLetter 
  4. See CPAG’s pre-budget briefing Priorities for the 2024-25 Scottish Budget
  5. “Yousaf has previously announced he would look to increase the payment, but says he would push it to £30 per week from £25 in his first budget if elected first minister.” https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2023/mar/07/snp-leadership-debate-live-hamza-yousaf-kate-forbes-and-ash-regan-to-set-out-visions-for-scotland and https://twitter.com/CPAGScotland/status/1633482352193052673
  6. The First Minister promised at his anti-poverty summit in May 2023 that “shifting the dial on poverty – and child poverty in particular” will be a “defining mission” of his government during this Parliament. He subsequently promised to “maximise every lever at our disposal to tackle the scourge of poverty”.