Percentage of children in poverty, 2021/22, by country:
- UK – 29%
- Wales – 28%
- England – 31%
- Scotland – 24%
- Northern Ireland – 22%
https://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/blog/where-is-child-poverty-increasing-in-the-uk/
The Scottish Child Payment – a benefit unique to Scotland that sees every child under 16 given £25 a week in support – is making a “real difference” to food bank use in the country, a leading charity has said.
The Trussell Trust, which provides emergency food parcels across the UK, said its data suggested that the payment was having a positive impact on children’s poverty rates.
In England, the number of children forced to turn to the charity’s services in the period ending March 2023 was 42% higher than it had been. In Scotland, the rates also rose, but by only 17%.
https://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/blog/where-is-child-poverty-increasing-in-the-uk/
Homelessness
‘Core homelessness’ – a concept which captures the most severe and immediate forms of homelessness – is estimated to have stood at 14,250 households on a given night in Scotland in 2019, having been relatively stable over the preceding seven years. Rates of core homelessness are substantially lower in Scotland (0.57% of households) than in England (0.94%) and Wales (0.66%).
https://www.crisis.org.uk/ending-homelessness/homelessness-knowledge-hub/homelessness-monitor/scotland/the-homelessness-monitor-scotland-2021/
Facts, truth, ethics – off zero interest to UK Labour in Scotland.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
“Facts, truth, ethics – off zero interest to UK Labour in Scotland”
“Facts, truth and ethics”…..via Labour….snorts in derision.
Fabrication, lies and unethical behaviour….via Labour…sounds about right .
Pity that more people in Scotland were not more informed thus they then may be less inclined to ‘lend’ Labour their vote to oust the Tories at WM…which as far as votes in Scotland is concerned, is only really in practice, votes for a minority of seats in their English parliament….and ones that are, in a UK election, very much ‘surplus to requirement’ as far determining which party ultimately wins in that UK GE…..
As WE, Scotland, as a country are NOT those who are the ‘KING MAKERS’ as far as WHO, via a UK political party, holds the ultimate power in the UK as the UK government….that is a benefit that is bestowed upon another country within the UK…..via their larger population and too via the majority of seats allocated to it as country within the UK (as in MORE seats at WM than other countries within the UK)…..that of course being the same country that houses their UK Parliament….
No guesses as to who I mean re ‘country’ who REALLY gets to DECIDE (begins with an ‘E’)….something else Labour have “zero interest’ in relating to Scotland…indeed they see us, in Scotland, as so stupid that they actually have the audacity to suggest the opposite….
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Once more I’m grateful to TuS for calling out the the leadership of the Labour Party in Scotland. This is especially important as elections approach: the dominant pro-Union news media see an opportunity to diminish parties that support independence. So there is even less chance now – if that’s possible – they will provide evidence-based analysis or challenge to statements made by Mr Sarwar. Now that their once great hope, Ms Davidson has left the field next up to save the Union is Mr Sarwar.
The norm from the Labour leadership in Scotland is to deceive by consistently ignoring the context in which the Scottish Government has to operate whilst within the UK. Moreover, it consistently exhibits downright hypocrisy in its effective denial of the relevance of comparisons between Scotland and what is happening in Labour-run Wales. Mr Sarwar’s party colleagues in the Welsh government know well – and state publicly- the adverse impact of Westminster control on public services and social protections in Wales.
On the particular subject matter in the main blog post – poverty – the views of the poverty campaigning charity, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) are as always worth paying attention to, even by Mr Sarwar.
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‘Claiming’ authorship of the above remarks – posted before I added my name, why I don’t know – I’d like to share some recent insights from the aforementioned Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
This is from its 2023 UK Poverty report, setting out the trends and impacts of poverty across the UK (with my emphasis). It reinforces the points made in the main blog post.
Source https://www.jrf.org.uk/data/uk-child-poverty-rates-local-authority
‘Research carried out by Loughborough University and published by EndChildPoverty.org provides further insight into the geography of poverty by estimating the proportion of children who are in poverty after housing costs by local authority. FOUR LOCAL AUTHORITIES IN LONDON HAVE THE HIGHEST CHILD POVERTY RATES: Tower Hamlets (51%), Newham (49%), Barking and Dagenham (46%) and Hackney (45%). These are followed by Luton, just north of London in the East of England, at 45%.
‘…. LOCAL AUTHORITIES IN THE NORTH EAST (of England) CONSISTENTLY HAVE ABOVE AVERAGE POVERTY RATES, AND ALL LOCAL AUTHORITIES IN THIS REGION, EXCEPT NORTHUMBERLAND, HAVE SEEN CHILD POVERTY RATES INCREASE BY AT LEAST 10 PERCENTAGE POINTS SINCE 2012-15.
‘CHILD POVERTY RATES IN WALES ARE ALSO CONSISTENTLY ABOVE AVERAGE, AND CLUSTERED IN THE RANGE OF 27-36%. WALES HAS ALSO SEEN SUBSTANTIAL INCREASES IN CHILD POVERTY RATES OVER THE LAST SIX YEARS, WITH POVERTY RATES INCREASING BY BETWEEN THREE AND SIX PERCENTAGE POINTS.
‘Local authorities in the EAST MIDLANDS, SOUTH WEST, SOUTH EAST, SCOTLAND AND NORTHERN IRELAND HAVE CHILD POVERTY RATES CLUSTERED TOWARDS THE LOWER END OF THE RANGE, although there are exceptions within these areas with some local authorities like Glasgow City (29%), Leicester (35%), Slough (35%) and Bristol (33%) having above average poverty rates. Three quarters of the local authorities in these regions have seen falls in child poverty rates over the last six years.
‘There is a much wider range of poverty rates across local authorities within London, Yorkshire and Humberside, the North West and the West Midlands. The local authorities with both the highest and lowest poverty rates are in London, with Tower Hamlets at 51% and City of London at 10%. In Yorkshire and Humberside, Bradford has the highest child poverty rate at 40% while Harrogate has the lowest at 17%. In the West Midlands Birmingham has the highest poverty rate at 42% while Warwick has a 19% poverty rate.’
There is no politician belonging to party in government in either England or Wales that can berate the Scottish Government on ‘poverty’ without a charge of hypocrisy being apt!
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This next post based on Joseph Rowntree Foundation activities shows up starkly how the Westminster government’s social protections delivered via Universal Credit are failing people.
Source: https://www.jrf.org.uk/press/universal-credit-falling-so-far-short-cost-essentials-putting-health-millions-risk-say-health
From the JRF on 24 August 2023: extracts from the text of a letter to the Prime Minister:
‘Dear Prime Minister,
‘It is wrong that, despite living in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, there are people in the UK unable to afford the essentials we all need to get by, such as food, household bills and essential travel costs.
‘As health and social care professionals and health charities, we are seeing too many living with the effects of going without these essentials.’
And the letter goes on: ‘Our social security system should offer adequate support to anyone in need of help, but right now it’s not providing enough income to cover the cost of life’s essentials. According to research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, around 9 in 10 low-income households in receipt of Universal Credit are going without at least one essential, such as food or a warm home, a number that has not budged since they first started tracking in May 2022. The basic rate of Universal Credit must at least cover life’s essentials, with support never being pulled below that level.’
‘Signed:
Joseph Rowntree Foundation
The Trussell Trust
Academy of Medical Royal Colleges
Age UK
Asthma + Lung UK
Barnardo’s
British Association of Social Workers
British Liver Trust
British Medical Association
British Psychological Society
Centre for Mental Health
Diabetes UK
Huntington’s Disease Association
Kidney Care UK
Marie Curie
Mental Health UK
Mental Health Foundation
Mind
MND Association
MS Society
National AIDS Trust
NHS Confederation
Parkinson’s UK
Rethink Mental Illness
Royal College of Emergency Medicine
Royal College of Nursing
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
Royal College of Physicians
Stroke Association
The Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine
The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute’.
(The list of signatories is reproduced here for full effect.)
Universal Credit is relevant and impactful in Scotland notwithstanding Scottish Government mitigations. Devolved governments in Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh can mitigate but cannot counter fully the failings of Westminster: the Labour leadership in Scotland should – in reality, will – know this even though its Unionism prevents acknowledging it!
Displaying hypocrisy seems to be a price leading Labour politicians in Scotland are willing to pay in order to support the Union.
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It’s important not to forget what the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has stated in the past about the Scottish Government’s actions to help address poverty (with my emphasis).
From the JRF on 14 November 2022: ‘The Scottish Child Payment is already HELPING FAMILIES NORTH OF THE BORDER TO STAY OUT OF POVERTY DESPITE THE COST OF LIVING CRISIS, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
‘The payments, introduced for children under the age of 6 in 2021 and being extended to under 16s today is worth £25 a week for each child in a family. THIS WILL MEAN A BOOST OF £1,300 A YEAR PER CHILD FOR HOUSEHOLD BUDGETS AND, UNLIKE UNIVERSAL CREDIT, WITH NO LIMIT ON THE NUMBER OF CHILDREN WHO WILL BENEFIT.
‘JRF analysis shows that IF THE PAYMENT WERE EXTENDED TO ENGLAND, WALES AND NORTHERN IRELAND A FURTHER 5.3 MILLION CHILDREN WOULD BE ELIGIBLE FOR THIS CRUCIAL SUPPORT.’
‘JRF is calling on governments and devolved administrations around the UK to LEARN FROM THE SCOTTISH EXPERIENCE AND APPLY POLITICAL WILL AND FUNDING TO TACKLE CHILD POVERTY BY PROVIDING MONEY DIRECTLY TO FAMILIES, alongside other measures such as IMPROVING ACCESS TO CHILDCARE, flexible work and affordable housing.’
Chris Birt, Associate Director for Scotland at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation said at the same time:
“The full rollout of the Scottish Child Payment is A WATERSHED MOMENT FOR TACKLING POVERTY IN SCOTLAND, AND THE REST OF THE UK SHOULD TAKE NOTICE. At £1,300 per child, per year it will be a welcome boost to family budgets that are stretched to breaking point already.
“No child should live in poverty so there is clearly more to do but THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE COMMENDED FOR PRIORITISING SPEND ON THIS VITAL MEASURE AT THIS TIME. But this is not just a cost of living crisis measure, it is an enduring investment in our children.
“Governments face difficult financial decisions at the moment but they are nothing compared to the impossible choices that families across the UK face in this crisis. Foodbank use continues to spiral and local communities are providing warm places for people to shelter from the chill of their own homes.
“A country as wealthy as the UK can do much, much, better and the SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT’S ACTION SHOWS THE UK CHANCELLOR THAT PRIORITISING THOSE ON LOW INCOMES IS POSSIBLE. It also shows the other devolved administrations that CONSTRAINTS ON POWERS AND FINANCIAL FLEXIBILITY ARE NO BARRIER TO COMPASSIONATE AND SIGNIFICANT ACTION TO SUPPORT FAMILIES.”
Candidly, I cannot recall coverage by the mainstream media in Scotland of these value judgements made by a much respected poverty campaigning charity. Is the Labour leadership in Scotland aware of the JRF’s position on this matter: does it even care? Does it note the JRF’s ‘dig’ at the Labour government in Cardiff?
More to the point for now, are voters in Rutherglen and Hamilton West who are inclined to vote Labour sufficiently well informed on these matters?
We know Labour canvassers are unlikely to offer such context or perspective on what is being done in Scotland. We know that providing context and perspective on public policies is not within the remit of BBC Scotland. And as for the rest of the mainstream media in Scotland ….?
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