Priorities for the 2024-25 Programme for Government
With public finances under severe pressure and Scottish Ministers under a legal requirement to meet child poverty targets, the 2024-25 Programme for Government must prioritise action to achieve the Scottish Government’s ‘number one policy priority’. Action on social security and on removing barriers to employment, childcare and housing, are vital to protect and build on the progress that has already been made.
Summary
Priorities in this Programme for Government must include:
- Social security
- Sustaining and enhancing the value of Scottish family benefits. The Scottish child payment is working effectively to substantively reduce child poverty. An above-inflation increase and commitment to ensuring the payment reaches at least £40 per week by the end of this Parliament are needed as part of the wider action required to meet child poverty targets.
- Employment and Childcare
- Clear action to provide tailored employment support for parents and carers – with a particular focus on supporting lone parents, black and minority ethnic parents and carers, families with a disabled adult or child, and young parents.
- Action to further expand funded childcare, make the current childcare offer as accessible and flexible as possible and to provide free periods of childcare to address gaps in the support for childcare costs provided in universal credit.
- Cost of the school day
- Delivering commitments of universal free school meals to all primary school pupils and access to a digital device for all school aged children.
- Tax
- Using devolved tax powers more ambitiously to progressively raise revenue needed to tackle child poverty.
- Housing
- Sufficiently funding the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) and ensuring all children live in safe, secure and permanent homes.
- Sufficiently funding the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) and ensuring all children live in safe, secure and permanent homes.
With legally binding targets to reduce child poverty to less than 10% by 2030 and latest figures showing 1 in 4 children remained in poverty between 2020 and 2023, families living on a low income cannot afford for this Programme for Government to be a missed opportunity. Prioritising further action to tackle child poverty is a long-term investment, not just for families, but for Scotland’s economic security and the sustainability of public services.