11 hours ago
Child poverty rates fall more in North Ayrshire than anywhere else in Scotland
But the council's leader has insisted there's still a lot of work to do.
Child poverty rates have fallen more steeply in North Ayrshire than anywhere else in Scotland, welcome figures have revealed.
However North Ayrshire Council leader Marie Burns, who has made tackling the problem one of her administration's flagship priorities, insists the authority still have a lot of work to do.
Levels of child poverty in North Ayrshire have fallen by almost five percent, according to a new report.
The End Child Poverty coalition, which is made up of more than 130 organisations including child welfare groups and social justice groups, released its most recent child poverty data for all UK local authorities earlier this week.
The report, entitled Local Child Poverty Statistics 2025, shows encouraging signs for North Ayrshire.
The analysis shows the child poverty level (after housing costs) in North Ayrshire reduced from 29.2 per cent in 2022-23 to 24.3 per cent in 2023-24. This is against national averages of 24 per cent and 23 per cent respectively.
In 2022-23 North Ayrshire had the second-highest rate of child poverty in Scotland.
However, the reduction of 4.9 percentage points within North Ayrshire is the largest of all Scottish councils over the year.
Councillor Burns said: 'This reduction in levels of child poverty is very welcome news. However, the report shows that we have thousands of children whose lives are impacted by poverty, so we still have a lot of challenging work ahead of us.
'No child should be living in poverty – each and every one should have the same opportunities to thrive and do well in life.
'A lot of very important – and impactful - work goes on behind the scenes every day to try and make life better for our residents and families.
"I would like to thank all council staff and our community partners for the tireless work they have put in up to this point.
'While we never want to see any child living in poverty, this report allows us to be cautiously optimistic that we are making a real difference and are moving in the right direction. We will strive to further improve everything from health and quality of life to employment opportunities and childcare availability as we continue to tackle child poverty and make it a thing of the past."
The council's Employability Service delivers a range of support through its Your Next Move, Working North Ayrshire programme.
Contracted partners delivering Your Next Move, Working North Ayrshire include We Work for Families and CEIS Ayrshire, who all contribute to delivering a wide range of support to help individuals prepare and progress into employment.
To access any of the opportunities delivered by Your Next Move, Working North Ayrshire please email employability@
