Letter to First Minister of Scotland

First Minister
The Scottish Government
St Andrew’s House
Regent Road
Edinburgh EH1 3DG

Tuesday 28th November 2023

Dear First Minister,

As a broad range of charities, community groups, academics, trade unions and faith groups, we are writing to urge you to ensure that your first Budget as First Minister includes significant additional investment across government portfolios to tackle child poverty.

In particular, as a first step we call on you to increase the Scottish Child Payment to the £30 per week you committed to during your leadership campaign.*Independent analysis actually suggests a payment of £40 per week will be needed to be sure child poverty falls in line with government targets. By April 2024, this crucial payment will not have been increased for 16 months. Yet, during that period, families have been facing inflation rates that haven’t been seen for decades – with costs still rising, and low-income households worst affected.

As organisations and individuals working with and for families struggling on low incomes, we welcomed your promise in May that “shifting the dial on poverty – and child poverty in particular” will be a “defining mission” of your government during this Parliament. Your subsequent promise to “maximise every lever at our disposal to tackle the scourge of poverty” is also highly encouraging. These commitments build on the very real progress being made on child poverty because of policies the Scottish Government have already put in place – not least the introduction of the Scottish Child Payment and increases to its value. These are making a real difference to the lives of children across Scotland and have laid a strong foundation, which must now be built upon.

The harsh reality is that tens of thousands of children remain locked in poverty – with children in lone parent families, in families affected by disability and in minority ethnic families amongst those at particularly high risk. Your own government’s analysis shows that existing policies are not yet sufficient to meet statutory child poverty targets. Substantial further action and investment is therefore still urgently needed to realise your promise to ‘shift the dial’, while ensuring that our legal targets are delivered in full.

The upcoming Budget is therefore a critical test of your government’s willingness to match ambition with the tax and spending plans needed to realise that ambition. For the tens of thousands of children still locked in poverty, further action and investment cannot come soon enough.

Alongside social security, additional investment is, of course, needed across a range of government portfolios, to fund action in areas such as early learning and childcare, employability, fair work, whole family support and housing. Action is also needed to further tackle the gender inequalities, such as women’s low pay, that are inextricably linked to high levels of child poverty. The budget must harness and allocate sufficient resources to ensure the range of measures set out in the statutory child poverty delivery plan – Best Start, Bright Futures – can be fully implemented and built upon. We therefore urge you to apply a robust test across the budget: will this meaningfully support Scotland’s child poverty ambitions?

Of course, we understand that the government faces a difficult financial context. But with hard-up families across Scotland already making impossible choices between putting food on the table, paying the bills or getting into debt, it is vital that your government makes the choice to prioritise addressing child poverty in all tax and spending decisions.

After all, investing in the social security and public service infrastructure needed to prevent child poverty is not only the right thing to do for our children, it is also essential for our collective economic wellbeing and the future sustainability of our public finances. Analysis for CPAG shows the cost of child poverty – in additional public spending and lower earnings in adulthood – has risen to £39 billion a year across the UK, whilst work by IPPR for Save the Children and the JRF suggests child poverty is costing the Scottish economy £2.4 billion a year.

We therefore collectively urge you to double down on the investment the Scottish Government is already making by ensuring the forthcoming Budget resources the further action needed to deepen progress. Crucially, this must include delivering the vital increase to the Scottish Child Payment that you rightly highlighted as being so important in your leadership campaign, alongside systematically proofing every budget decision for its impact on child poverty.

Only by taking these steps, coupled with the use of the Scottish Government’s wider powers, can our shared vision of a Scotland free of child poverty be realised.

Yours sincerely,

SallyAnn Kelly OBE, Chief Executive, Aberlour Children’s Charity
Fiona Steel, National Director for Scotland, Action for Children
Martin Crewe, Director, Barnardo’s Scotland
Mary Glasgow, Chief Executive, Children 1st
Dr Judith Turbyne, Chief Executive, Children in Scotland
Anna Ritchie Allan, Executive Director, Close the Gap
John Dickie, Director of CPAG in Scotland
Nancy Louks, Chief Executive, Families Outside
Martin Dorchester, Chief Executive, includem
Angela Moohan, Chief Executive, The Larder
Satwat Rehman, Director, One Parent Families Scotland (OPFS)
Jamie Livingstone, Head of Oxfam Scotland
Amy Woodhouse, Chief Executive Officer, Parenting Across Scotland
Claire Telfer, Head of Scotland, Save the Children
Polly Jones, Head of Scotland, The Trussell Trust
Danielle Flecher-Horn, Founder, AberNecessities
Linda Tuthill, CEO, The Action Group
Arlene Astley, Operations and Development Manager, Advocard
Drew McKinney, Manager, Agape Wellbeing and Sensory Hub
Mariam Ahmed, CEO, Amina Muslim Women’s Resource Centre.
Revd William Nolan, Archbishop of Glasgow
Suzanne Slavin, Chief Executive Officer, Ayr Housing Aid Centre
Professor Mike Danson, Chair, Basic Income Network Scotland
Tanveer Parnez, Director of National Developments, BEMIS Scotland
Brian Buchanan, Director, BRB Electrical Ltd
Frank Mosson, Bureau Manager, Bridgeton Citizens Advice Bureau
Gary Meek, CEO, Blue Triangle
Ruth MacLennan CEO, and Margaret Caldwell, Chairperson, Care for Carers
Richard Meade, Director, Carers Scotland
Becky Duff, Director for Scotland, Carers Trust
Jen Wallace, Director of Policy and Evidence, Carnegie UK
Claire Burns, Director, CELCIS
Nicola Killean, Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland
Rami Okasha, Chief Executive, Children’s Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS)
Gareth McNab, Director of External Affairs, Christians Against Poverty
Emma Jackson, Public Life and Social Justice Programme Group, The Church of Scotland
Derek Mitchell, CEO, Citizens Advice Scotland
Sensei Karl Kaliski, Director, Cloud Water Zen Centre
Rachel Cackett, CEO, Coalition of Care & Support Providers in Scotland
Fiona Rae, Chief Executive, Community Food Initiatives North East (CFINE)
Teresa Sutherland, CEO, Community Help & Advice Initiative
Manuela Coletti, Community Programmes Manager, Craigsfarm Community Development Project Ltd
Marie Ward, CEO, Cranhill Development Trust
Peter Kelly, Director, Poverty Alliance
Matt Downie, Chief Executive, Crisis
Nasreen Ali, Chairperson, Crookston Community Group
Ewan Aitken, CEO, Cyrenians
Andrew Stevenson, CEO, The Destiny Project
John Kinnear, National Director, Diabetes Scotland
Paul Davies, Senior Community Planning Officer, Dundee Partnership Team, Chief Executive’s
Services, Dundee City Council
Jane Brumpton, Chief Executive, Early Years Scotland
Philip Carr, Bureau Manager, East & Central Sutherland CAB
Elaine Morrison, Foodbank Manager, East Lothian Foodbank
Roslyn Neely, CEO, Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity
Brenda Black, CEO, Edinburgh Community Food
Bethany Biggar, Director, Edinburgh Food Project
Andrea Bradley, General Secretary, EIS
Frazer Scott, CEO of Energy Action Scotland
Catherine Murphy, Executive Director, Engender.
Cathy Sexton, Director, Fathers Network Scotland,
John McIntyre, Chairperson, Ferguslie Community Development Trust
Cheryl Ward, Chief Executive Officer, Family Fund
Laura Millar, Strategic Manager, Fife Gingerbread
Charlene Gold, Business Operations Administrator, Food For Thought Foodbank
Biddy Kelly, Managing Director, Fresh Start
Ashley Thomson, Youth Programmes Manager, Fuse Youth Cafe, Shettleston
Helene van der Ploeg, Chief Executive, Grassmarket Community Project
Professor Chik Collins, Director, Glasgow Centre for Population Health
Ian Bruce, Chief Executive, Glasgow Council for the Voluntary Sector
Fatima Uygun, CEO, Govanhill Baths Community Trust
Carol Reid, Director of Customer Services, Grampian Housing Association
Sara Redmond, Chief Officer of Development, Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE)
Hannah Barrows, Deputy Chief Officer (Interim), Highland First Sector Interface
Peter Grigg, CEO, Home-Start UK
Margaret-Ann Brünjes, CEO, Homeless Network Scotland
Jim Elder-Woodward, Chairperson, Inclusion Scotland
Sabine Goodwin, Director, Independent Food Aid Network
Celia Tennant, CEO, Inspiring Scotland
Philip Whyte, Director, IPPR Scotland
Dave Watson, Director, Jimmy Reid Foundation
Chris Birt, Associate Director for Scotland, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Jill Kent, Chairperson, Justice and Peace Scotland
Lainy Bedingfield, Managing Director, Kingsway Community Connections
Ed Archer. Vice Chairman, Lanark Tenants and Residents Association
Helen Provan, Centre Director, Lanarkshire Rape Crisis Centre
Mrs Pat Lemmon, Coordinator, The Lammermuir Larder Group
Dr Niki Powers, Managing Director, Let’s Talk – Young People
Kenneth Halliday, Director, Lochfield Park HA Ltd
Liane Coia, Operations Manager, Maryhill Integration Network
Dr Lindsey MacDonald, Chief Executive, Magic Breakfast
Ellie Wagstaff, Senior Policy Manager, Marie Curie Scotland
Mairi McCallum, Project Manager, Moray Food Plus
Karen McCurry, Centre Manager, Multiple Sclerosis Centre Mid Argyll
Dr Patrick Roach, General Secretary, NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union
Craig Samuel, Scotland Representative, NAWRA
Joanne Smith, Policy & Public Affairs Manager, NSPCC Scotland
Angus McCormack, Chair, Outer Hebrides Community Planning Partnership Anti- Poverty Strategy Group
Joanne Smith, Chair, Parent and Infant Mental Health Scotland
Tracey Duffy, Managing Director, Paul’s Parcels
Euan Stratton, Development Worker, The Pennypit Community Development Trust
Glenn Liddall, Chief Executive, People Know How
Dawn Anderson, Director, Pilton Community Health Project
Marguerite Hunter Blair, Chief Executive, Play Scotland
Stewart Wilson, Director, Point & Sandwick Trust Energy Support Unit, Isle of Lewis
Elaine Downie, Co-ordinator, The Poverty Truth Community
Carole Erskine, Head of Policy & Campaigns, Scotland, Pregnant then Screwed
Ailsa MacKenzie, Chief Officer, The Pyramid at Anderston
Rachel Green, Director, The Ripple
Jim McCormick, Chief Executive, The Robertson Trust
Audrey Thomson, Managing Director, RockSolid Dundee
Kate Polson, Chief Executive, Rock Trust
Dr Mairi Stark, Officer for Scotland, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
Alison Bavidge, National Director, Scottish Association of Social Work
Margaret Simpson, Director/CEO , Scottish Borders Social Enterprise Chamber C.I.C.
Susan Paxton, Director, Scottish Community Development Centre
Sandra Black, Business Support Officer, Scottish Community Safety Network
John Cassidy, Chair, Scottish Communities for Health and Wellbeing
Dr. Carey Lunan, Scottish Deep End Project
Justina Murray, Chief Executive Officer, Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol & Drugs
Sally Thomas, CEO, SFHA
Irene Audain MBE, Chief Executive, Scottish Out of School Care Network
Mandy Morgan, Chief Executive, Scottish Pantry Network
Professor John McKendrick, Co-Director, Scottish Poverty and Inequality Research Unit
Rozanne Foyer, General Secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress
Euan Leitch, Chief Executive, SURF – Scotland’s Regeneration Forum
Dr. Marsha Scott, CEO, Scottish Women’s Aid
Agnes Tolmie, Chair of The Scottish Women’s Convention
Mollie McGoran MSYP, Chair, Scottish Youth Parliament
Alison Watson, Director, Shelter Scotland
Trishna Singh OBE, Founder/Director, Sikh Sanjog
Ravinder Kaur Nijjar, Advisor, Sikhs in Scotland
Sharon McAulay, Chief Executive, Star Project
Murray Dawson CEO, Station House Media Unit
Zoe Jordan, Business Administrator, Stepping Stones North Edinburgh
John Mooney, Chairperson, Stepping Stones Organisation (Mental Health)
Natalie Masterson, Chief Executive, Stirlingshire Voluntary Enterprise
Colin Clement, Chairperson, Stobswell Forum
Joy M Gillespie, CEO, Survivors of Human Trafficking in Scotland (SOHTIS)
Andy Peline, Chief Executive Officer, SWAMP Community Development Trust
Juliet Harris, Director, Together (Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights)
Dr Patrycja Kupiec, Head of Edinburgh Trust, Turn2us
Lilian Macer, Scottish Secretary, UNISON
Tracy Hill, Unison Housing & Care Scotland Branch
Michael Sharpe, Director, UNITY Consulting Scotland
Adrian Sinfield, Professor Emeritus of Social Policy, University of Edinburgh
Dr Hayley Bennett, Lecturer in Social Policy, University of Edinburgh
Prof. Sharon Wright, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow
Nick Bailley, Professor of Urban Studies, Director, Urban Big Data Centre, University of Glasgow
Annette Hastings, Professor of Urban Studies, University of Glasgow
Denis O’Keefe, Development Worker, Voice of Experience Forum
Aileen McLeod, Interim Director, WEAll Scotland.
Rob McDowall, Chair, Welfare Scotland
Clair Coyle, Charity Manager, West Dunbartonshire Community Foodshare
Elizabeth M Nicholson, Chair, Wester Loch Ewe Trust
Carolyn Currie, Chief Executive, Women’s Enterprise Scotland
Jan Macleod, Manager, Women’s Support Project
Hugh Foy, Director: Programmes and Project, Xaverian Missionaries UK Province
Damian Killeen OBE, Past Director of The Poverty Alliance
Carmen Martinez, Scottish Women’s Budget Group

*See here and here