Today, the Joseph Rowntree Trust has published: ‘UK Poverty 2023.’ It contains several indicators of the relative success of the SNP in government in tackling poverty despite having one-hand tied behind its back in terms of control of the economy.

No one, I’m sure, is satisfied but it’s important that the Scottish electorate is informed on matters such as this. None of ‘our’ media are covering it. Reporting Scotland and the Scotsman are covering the right-wing rubbish think tank, the IFS, claiming that the Scottish Government will have to make cuts in the future. We’ve been there before with this bunch thinking they can predict what will happen, blind to what Scotland might do if it had the powers to do so.

The JRF report has several references to Scotland. Here are a few key points.

Scotland has a lower rate of poverty (18%) than England (22%) and Wales
(24%) and around the same rate as Northern Ireland (17%). Housing costs are an
important driver in the lower rates of poverty in Scotland; a smaller proportion
of households live in the rented sector in Scotland than in the rest of the UK on
average, while renters in Scotland disproportionately live in the lower-cost social
rented sector (57% of renters are in social rented, compared with 45% of renters in
the rest of the UK). Both private and social renters in Scotland pay lower housing
costs on average compared with England and Wales. The poverty rate for social
renters is lower in Scotland (40%) than in England (44%), and only a fifth of these
(22%) are pulled into poverty by their housing costs compared with over a third
(36%) of social renters in poverty in England.

Divergence in policy across nations will probably drive greater disparity in poverty
rates across the country. Scotland has taken decisive action in defining child
poverty targets in legislation and enhancing the benefits system with a Scottish
child payment for those receiving qualifying benefits; this was introduced in
February 2021 at £10 a week per child under the age of six; the value doubled
in April 2022 to £20 a child and increased again in November 2022 to £25
when it was also rolled out to all eligible children under 16. In response to both
the pandemic and cost of living crisis, both Scotland and Northern Ireland
haven taken steps to limit rent increases for social renters, while the Scottish
Government is introducing more protections for private renters including greater
rent controls and eviction bans. The political stasis in Northern Ireland, which
currently lacks a functioning government or assembly, means local politicians have
been unable to use the nation’s institutions to deliver further and tailored support
to families through the cost of living crisis.

There has been a positive move in Scotland via the benefits system with a Scottish
child payment being made to those receiving qualifying benefits; the value doubled
in April 2022 to £20 a child and increased again in November 2022 to £25 when
it was also rolled out to all eligible children under 16. This is likely to have reduced
the risk of poverty among families in Scotland receiving these payments.

https://www.jrf.org.uk/system/files/uk_poverty_2023_-_the_essential_guide_to_understanding_poverty_in_the_uk.pdf