Polling was carried out as part of Save the Children’s Changing the Story project
Save the Children and Joseph Rowntree Foundation are calling for every political party to commit to action on ending child poverty.
They spoke out as new polling shows that people across Scotland want politicians to step up and do more.
Families across the country are struggling with high costs and low paid and insecure work.
Devastating evidence of the scale of problems facing families, and facing the country, is that one in four young lives is being held back by child poverty.
Over three quarters of people (77%) want decision makers to take more action on child poverty.
People also say that they are concerned about the number of children being held back by poverty (76%) and want to see the Scottish Government take action.
There is widespread support for bold action to turn the tide on child poverty. People want to see action to make sure all parents have access to quality flexible childcare (79%), to make sure all families have affordable and good quality housing (89%), and to improve pay and conditions for the lowest paid workers (86%).
The polling was carried out as part of Save the Children’s Changing the Story project. This aims to find out what people in Scotland think about child poverty, and to tell a new story about child poverty that chimes with those feelings, and with families who are experiencing poverty.
Next year’s Holyrood election is a chance for politicians from all parties to show people in Scotland that they are serious about delivering a better future, by committing to bold action to tackle child poverty through actions like increasing financial support for families with new babies, increasing the Scottish Child Payment, and making work pay for more families.
Claire Telfer, head of Scotland at Save the Children said: “Families across Scotland are struggling. A combination of low-paid and insecure jobs and high costs means that the economy just isn’t working for too many people in Scotland.
“Devastating evidence of this is that more than one in five children in Scotland are being held back from achieving their potential because of poverty. The alarm is ringing – children are being held back by poverty, and people want change. The next Scottish Government cannot hit snooze. It’s time to wake up, to invest in children, and in a better future for Scotland.”
Chris Birt, associate director for Scotland at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), added: “What we’ve found shows that people are let down by politics, and feel overlooked and ignored by politicians. It is vital that decision-makers start to rebuild trust by taking action to tackle poverty, by investing in children and families, and in Scotland’s future.
“It’s not too much to ask that everyone should have a warm, affordable home, a decent job that helps pay the bills and support from public services, including social security, when we need it. This is why Scotland is demanding better, because if we make the right decisions today, we can build a better future for us all.”
Save the Children and JRF have published a toolkit to help campaigners and those striving for change to make the positive case for reducing child poverty to providing practical advice on how to deliver messages powerfully and positively in the current political context.
