Full cost of child poverty in Scotland exposed

The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland today welcomed the publication of a Scottish Government report highlighting the financial cost of poverty to Scotland at between £1.5 and £1.75 billion. The anti-poverty campaigners believe the report makes clear why government must invest now to end the child poverty scandal.

Responding to the report, the Head of CPAG in Scotland, John Dickie, said;

“This £1.5billion financial cost to society comes on top of the devastating human costs incurred by individual children in the form of ill health, reduced life expectancy, educational underachievement, stigma and exclusion.

That’s why we urgently need to see Holyrood and Westminster governments working together to ensure no child grows up in poverty in a country as rich as Scotland.

From the UK Government we need to see an additional £3 billion a year investment in child benefits and tax credits on top of the very welcome £1billion announced in the recent Budget.

We also need more action from Scottish Ministers to provide families with the advice they need to get the financial support they are entitled to, alongside action to tackle the lack of affordable childcare, low pay and inflexible employment practices that too often undermine work as a route out of poverty. Work is important but with over half of children in poverty living in families where an adult is already in a job far more is needed to give fair rewards for work.

The challenge for Ministers is to find the resources to provide the supports families need to reduce child poverty to levels found amongst our Scandinavian neighbours. Politicians of all parties need to understand that lower levels of child poverty mean higher levels of spending on children and families.”

Media contacts:
John Dickie, Head of CPAG in Scotland on 0141 552 3656 mobile 07795 340 618

Notes for editors

1. The report, Estimating the Cost of Child Poverty – Approaches and Evidence, is published today and is available at www.scotland.gov.uk/publications. The report takes evidence from selected wards and detailed data from a single local authority, Fife, and extrapolates the estimated additional costs associated with child poverty to give a figure for Scotland as a whole.

2. 250 000 children in Scotland are officially recognized as living ion poverty – one in four children. See http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/05/30085716/4