This week is Challenge Poverty Week
Scotland’s next government must prioritise a rise in the Scottish child payment to £80.
It currently sits at £27.15 a week but campaigners want this tripled to combat increasing levels of poverty.
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) has called on all political parties in Scotland to back its “prescription for change” – a manifesto to “transform” children’s health.
The professional body said whichever party forms the government after the Holyrood election in May must take “bold, evidence-based action to improve child health across the nation”.
It said that ending child poverty must be a national priority.
This includes immediately raising Scottish child payment (SCP) from £27.15 per week per child to £40, with a commitment to doubling it by the end of the next parliamentary term in 2031.
Dr Mairi Stark, RCPCH officer for Scotland, said: “Scotland stands at a pivotal moment. Child health outcomes are worsening, and crucial health services are operating under unprecedented levels of pressure and demand.
“Poverty remains the leading driver of poor child health, with nearly a quarter of children in Scotland living in relative poverty.
“Clinicians witness the impact of deprivation every day in rising rates of obesity, poor dental health, mental health challenges, and behavioural difficulties.
“The upcoming Holyrood elections present a vital opportunity for us to place children and young people at the heart of policymaking and to create a landscape in which their health, wellbeing and rights are not only safeguarded, but actively prioritised.
“This must include guaranteeing fair investment in child health services relative to adult care, recognising the growing complexity of paediatric needs.”
Meanwhile a report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation this week found nearly one in four children are living in poverty and that Universal Credit (UC) rates are too low to escape poverty: 42% of people in a family in receipt of a low-income benefit, such as UC, were trapped in poverty.
Peter Kelly, chief executive of Poverty Alliance Scotland, said: “It can’t be right that nearly one in four children in Scotland are having their life chances restricted by poverty, and the news that child poverty has remained largely the same over the past four years is depressingly familiar.
“The latest Poverty in Scotland report serves as a reminder of the systematic, multiple policy failures that have entrenched poverty across Scotland. At a time when poverty is deepening, low wages are causing increasing rates of in-work poverty, and rising housing costs are putting people under increasing pressure – it’s clear we need bolder action from our political leaders at all levels of government.”
