Scottish budget response

Campaigners "disappointed" at "wasted opportunity" to go much further on  child poverty

Responding to today's (January 13th 2026) Scottish draft Budget John Dickie, Director of Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland said;

"This draft Budget announcement was a critical opportunity to build on recent child poverty progress here in Scotland, but the opportunity to go much further has been largely wasted. The promise to increase the Scottish child payment for babies under one is a positive step but won't kick in for over a year and even then leaves the vast majority of children without any additional financial support. More breakfast clubs, after school and holiday activities will be welcome for families but will have very limited, if any, impact on overall levels of child poverty. With 2030 targets looming the opportunities wasted today should ring alarm bells for all those who want to see child poverty eradicated."

Mr.  Dickie continued

"All the evidence pointed to investment in Scottish child payment as the most straightforward, impactful and cost-effective way to protect family living standards and make further progress on what the First Minister says is his number one priority. The lack of any real terms increase in Scottish social security support for families in the coming year is therefore hugely disappointing. Money earmarked but no longer needed for two-child limit payments could have been used to provide a real boost to family incomes and lift thousands more children out of poverty.

In short this is a budget that will, in time, provide additional help for some struggling families, but which falls far short of what is needed to build a truly credible path toward eradicating child poverty. It is  now vital that in the run up to the Scottish election all the parties set out how they will scale up investment in the social security, childcare, housing and employment support that is needed to meet the child poverty targets they all backed."

Ends

For further comment or interviews please contact John Dickie on 07795 340 618

Notes for editors

  1. The 2017 Child Poverty (Scotland) Act, passed unanimously by the Scottish Parliament, requires Ministers to ensure fewer than 10% of children are living in poverty by 2030. Latest statistics for 2023/24 show 22% of Scotland children are still in poverty. This is a fall from 26% in 2022/23 (and contrasts with rising child poverty across the UK as a whole. ) The fall is widely attributed to the impact of the Scottish child payment.
  2. Scottish Fiscal Commission costings of the SCP child under one premium (page 110) suggest will cost just £7m. This compares to the £126m that was available from the two child limit abolition.
  3. CPAG modelling suggests a £40 per week per child Scottish child payment would reduce the number of children in poverty by 15,000 (one to two percentage points) at a cost of £190m. £155m, as currently earmarked for two child mitigation, would enable the payment to be increased to £37.50, in itself lifting 10 000 children out of poverty. ( The calculations come from  UKMOD version B1.11 UKMOD is maintained, developed and managed by the Centre for Microsimulation and Policy Analysis (CeMPA) at the University of Essex. The results and their interpretation are the author’s sole responsibility. The cost has been given in 2025/26 prices.)
  4. Fraser of Allander modelling suggest a £35 Scottish child payment would cost around £121 million and reduce child poverty by one percentage point.
  5. Research by economists and social policy academics from the London School of Economics (LSE) and the universities of York, published by the IFS,   recently found concerns about Scottish child payment creating work disincentives are ‘overplayed.’ A comparison of labour market participation and hours worked among families on both sides of the border finds no labour supply impact in practice, including among second earners. The researchers conclude that "the Scottish government should build on its investment so far and increase the value of the payment".
  6. Along with other members of the End Child Poverty coalition CPAG signed an open letter to the Finance Secretary following the UK government's abolition of the two child limit calling for her to " specifically use the resources freed up to further boost Scottish social security for families, for example by increasing the Scottish Child Payment toward the £40 a week that we have long argued is needed by the end of this Parliament."