Radical change needed to cut Scottish child poverty, says charity

Scotland is on course to miss legally-binding targets to cut child poverty "by a wide margin", according to a report from a leading social reform charity.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) said one in five children was in poverty and "radical change" was needed to put the Scottish government's pledges back on track.

It urged ministers to craft a "much bolder and properly-funded plan to reduce poverty" by rewiring local government, public services and the tax system.

The Scottish government said it had made great strides, with its policies keeping 100,000 children out of poverty this year, but accepted there was more to do.

In 2017, MSPs passed a law requiring ministers to hit four targets, external, including pushing the share of children in relative poverty below 10% by 2030.

But the JRF's Poverty in Scotland report, external found the figure remained stubbornly high, averaging 21% from 2022 to 2025. The UK average is 28%.

Relative poverty means a household has disposable income after housing costs below 60% of the UK median, adjusted for family size and composition.

Overall, the report concluded, 940,000 people in Scotland were in relative poverty – 17% of the population.

The report focused on the "critical role" of Scotland's 32 councils in reducing poverty, noting that local government is in the early stages of a big shake up.

"Councils are not doing enough," it concludes, "with people on low incomes and living in more deprived areas reporting worse experiences of services and higher levels of disaffection."

The report urges Swinney's government to embrace the opportunity to craft "refitted" councils which can play a fuller role in poverty reduction, in partnership with the third sector.

This, it says, requires reform not just of local government's structure but of its funding, including the "regressive" council tax which "takes up a much larger proportion of low-income households' budgets than better-off households'."

Funding of councils, says the JRF, is "stretched to breaking point", with the current model "increasingly unfit for purpose" and "hampering local efforts to reduce poverty".

"Years of austerity, shifting goalposts from the Scottish government, single-year budgets and an ever-blooming number of strategies and action plans mean councils are often acting with one hand tied behind their back," says the report.

In her statement, Somerville said tackling poverty was at the heart of the Scottish government's plans for public service reform including tailoring services for individual needs in an approach known as "whole-family support".

"The time to go further is now," she said. "That means changing how services work together, ensuring they are joined up and designed around need, so that families can get the right support, at the right time and in the right place."

The JRF describes the current roll-out and funding for whole-family support as "wholly inadequate."

In a statement, Cosla, which represents local authorities, said its members took the report seriously and would do everything possible to cut poverty.

But its resources spokesperson, Kelly Parry, said councils were being constrained by funding shortages and rising demand for services.

Opinion polling conducted by the Diffley Partnership for the JRF suggests that two thirds of people think their council is underfunded, with just 4% saying the opposite.

It also indicates that people significantly underestimate the 61% share of local government funding which comes directly from the Scottish government. Council tax, by contrast, accounts for just 17%.

The pollster surveyed 3,381 adults in Scotland between 22 and 26 June.

"Councils are ready to be held accountable for the contribution we make," added Parry.

"But responsibility must be matched by the powers, fair and flexible multi-year funding, and genuine partnership needed to deliver lasting change."