29-04-2025
- General
- The Herald Scotland
Children in poverty living without bedding is not 'unusual'
It comes as the charity said the Scottish Government's legally binding targets to reduce child poverty to 10% by 2030 will not be met unless urgent action is taken.
That action includes increasing the Scottish Child Payment to £40 per week after statistics showed it had made positive steps to reduce poverty.
Speaking exclusively to The Herald as part of the Scotland's Forgotten Children: Poverty in Focus series, the charity boss warned: 'There are families waking up in the morning and planning their day around how do they get through because they live in poverty.
'Can their child have a shower? Can they wash their clothes? Do they have a fridge? Do they have food to eat, and if they do, can they cook it? Do they have nappies for their baby? Do they have beds and bedding?
'We had a practitioner who said she was in terms after being in a family's house because we had supported the family to get new quilts, new pillows and new bedding and the children were literally like this is the first time they've ever had new bedding in their house.'
That is 'not unusual,' she warns.
Approximately £150,000 has been spent by the charity since last July on essential items like bedding for more than 1,700 children, funded by Nationwide.
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'Beds and bedding are very common for us to support families with,' she said.
'A practitioner was sharing with me last week about a family living in a house where there were concrete floors – there was no flooring. That is devastating."
Ms Steel praised the Scottish Government's 'commitment' to eradicating child poverty after First Minister John Swinney declared it as his key mission in government last year.
Figures showed that child poverty rates in Scotland decreased slightly to 22% in 2023-24, down from 26% the previous year, with policies like the Scottish Child Payment credited with making progress.
But charities, including Action for Children want to see that figure uplifted from the current £27.15 per week, to £40.
Doing so is estimated to lift an additional 20,000 children out of poverty and put the Scottish Government on track to meet legally binding targets to cut child poverty to 10% by 2030.
Ms Steel told The Herald: 'There is an opportunity for the government to make a significant difference to child poverty through progressive policies.'
She also described the commitment to mitigate the two-child benefit cap as a 'positive move'.
'We can't talk about what the Scottish Government is doing in a vacuum without considering the UK Government.'
If UK Government scrapped two child limit that would lift 400,000 children out of poverty immediately – however, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has maintained there is not currently the means to do this.
Ms Steel added: 'The Scottish Government has committed to mitigating against that. If they weren't having to do that they would have more money to spend on addressing poverty in Scotland, potentially.
'But what we would like to see is we still think there is scope to increase the Scottish Child Payment and we will be calling on the government to increase that to a minimum of £40 per week by the end of this parliamentary term.
'That provides that financial support which we know is really important.'
But in an exclusive interview with The Herald, Mr Swinney said there were no current plans to increase the Scottish Child Payment.
He warned it had reached its 'limit' and could remove the 'incentive to actually enter the labour market'.
