The latest estimate (2018) is that one million people in Scotland are living in relative poverty – that is, after housing costs, they are left with a household income that is below 60% of the national median.
The upside about the one million living in poverty in Scotland is that the country is actively doing something about it. Reducing poverty is not being left to the fanciful notion that a growing economy will cascade financial well-being throughout the land – or the equivalent myth that increasing poverty must be accepted as a fact of life when the economic climate is tough.
The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act received royal assent on December 18, 2017. Not so much an early Christmas present for Scotland’s children, but more advance notice of one to come by 2030 when child poverty in Scotland is to be eradicated. Sound familiar? It should.
In advance of this Scottish Act being passed, a Poverty and Inequality Commission had already been established. It recently advised the Scottish government that making social security live up to its name, making work pay and reducing housing costs to the least well-off should be the key ingredients of a child poverty strategy. At the same time, it argued that steps to bolster the quality of life of children living with poverty should not be overlooked in the quest to reduce the numbers.
The Scottish government responded with Every Child, Every Chance, its first delivery plan for 2018-2022, working toward achieving the 2030 goal of eradicating child poverty in Scotland. New action on work and earnings, reducing the cost of living, social security and new forms of partnership working are all outlined in a comprehensive programme.
Poverty is never anything to celebrate. But at least good news can be found in those who want to take progressive and proactive steps to tackle it in Scotland.