What impact has the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act had?
/This article was featured in the SCDC Weekly - 14th August 2024.
A Scottish parliamentary committee is seeking views about impact the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act has had as part of its post legislative scrutiny.
The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act was passed in 2017, and set legal targets to reduce relative child poverty in Scotland to 10%, and absolute child poverty to 5%, by 2030.
The Social Justice and Social Security Committee (which is also running a call for views about third sector funding) is seeking to understand the impact of these targets and measures, and assess what would be different if the legislation had not been enacted.
Recent statistics show on average over three years, 24% of all children in Scotland - 240,000 - were living in relative poverty after housing costs. An interim target of 18% will be reported on when this year's figures are published in March 2025.
Earlier this year, Scotland's First Minister made clear that the "eradication of child poverty" would be the "single most important policy objective" for the Scottish Government, which recently announced additional funding to trial new approaches.
The Poverty and Inequality Commission, which was setup as part of the Act, has previously said that "it is unlikely that the interim [poverty] targets will be met" and that "without immediate and significant action, the Scottish Government will not meet the 2030 targets."
The call for views closes on 13th September 2024.
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