More than one in four children may be enduring poverty in the North Isles

Community groups and charities in Orkney are being urged to take part in a "crucial" new survey to help better understand child poverty on the Isles.

The Scottish Poverty and Inequality Research Unit at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) has received funding from the Scottish Government to map out-of-school activity and food provisions for children, young people, and their families,

Service providers have been invited to complete an online survey to help researchers understand the scale and nature of the existing provision and determine whether the current service levels meet the needs of families living in poverty.

The research team at GCU will write a report based on the responses and produce a database of all the services, which will be widely shared and used across the islands.

Research from the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation found that 14% of Orkney children are living in poverty. In areas such as the North Isles, the figure rises to more than one in four children (27.7%).

Neil McNulty, a researcher from GCU, said: "Orkney is recognised as an affluent community and is often regarded as the best place to live and grow up in the UK but it is also a community with wide levels of inequality. We hope that we can obtain a high response rate as this work is crucial."

The survey can be accessed here.