"Scottish Budget is right to raise taxes and prioritise tackling child poverty", say campaigners

Responding to the passing of the Scottish Budget today the Director of the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland, John Dickie, said:

“It is absolutely right that tax powers are being used so that government has the resources it needs, especially to deliver on the child poverty commitments that all Holyrood parties have unanimously backed. Investing in the Scottish child payment is critical to ensuring families can make ends meet in the coming months and to achieving Scotland’s statutory child poverty targets.”

According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, “amongst the poorest 30% of households, those with children will see their incomes boosted by around a sizeable £2,000 a year on average” as a result of Scottish tax and benefit policy.

However in December 2022, CPAG in Scotland published research (The Cost of a child in Scotland in 2022 - update) that showed that rising costs are still outstripping additional Holyrood support, despite the real difference the Scottish child payment was making to families. The campaigners are calling for Scottish Ministers to go further and ensure that at the very least the Scottish child payment is uprated to retain its real terms value next year, and that the government’s child poverty delivery plan is fully funded.

Mr Dickie continued:

“There is no question more resources are still needed, not just to ensure the child payment holds its real terms value but to ensure wider public services such as housing, childcare and education are adequately funded to help tackle child poverty and provide the best possible start for our children and that action is taken to pause debt recovery for those on the lowest incomes.” 

Notes

• The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 requires Scottish Ministers to ensure less than 18% of children are living in poverty by 2023/24 and less than 10% of children are living in poverty by 2030. The latest official statistics (for 2019/20) show that 26% of children (260 000 children) were living in poverty in Scotland. 68% of children in poverty live in working families.
• Recent analysis from the Institute for Fiscal Studies found that the impact of Scottish tax and benefit policy is that “amongst the poorest 30% of households, those with children will see their incomes boosted by around a sizeable £2,000 a year on average”.
• CPAG’s Cost of a Child in Scotland 2022 report published 13/12/22
• 2023/24 Scottish Budget Briefing