Stephanie Mander: investment in our children is needed, and fast
Despite the brief glimpse of spring we enjoyed recently, things are feeling bleak.
My job involves influencing change and creating better outcomes for people across social security, energy and housing. But what we’re seeing is that people are worried and, in many cases, desperate.
There’s been a wave of higher bills hitting households which is especially tough on people who have already cut back what they can. And as the situation worsens, the UK Government is not investing in positive change but instead proposing cuts to payments for sick and disabled people.
This is despite their own figures showing that this will push an additional 250,000 people into poverty – including 50,000 children.
What we need is urgent action, not more cuts that put our most vulnerable people into more vulnerable situations.
More positively, we’re seeing is the Scottish Government’s mitigation of the two-child limit - a UK Government policy which restricts social security support for families with more than two children. It has committed to spend £3 million to develop the system, a step in the right direction to reduce harm caused by the cap.
The Scottish Fiscal Commission states that the £155m needed in 2026/27 and £198m in 2029/30 to implement the policy will help to keep thousands out of poverty.
In one year, this investment could help 42,000 children.
But it’s not only the figures that show the real harm. Our advisers have also seen the impact caused by the two-child limit first-hand.
Recently an adviser helped Chris who lives with his partner, Diane, and their three children aged 17, eight and six. Chris hasn’t been able to work for the past six months due to sickness and Diane is self-employed. But like many others, work is no longer a guaranteed escape out of poverty. Their savings are shrinking, and everyday essentials are increasingly out of reach. Chris’s Statutory Sick Pay will run out soon and he is worried about looking after his family.
If the Scottish Government mitigates the two-child limit, it’s making the decision to prioritise vulnerable families and help people like Chris and Diane. It has already taken important steps through investing in the Scottish Child Payment, a vital cash support providing parents with the choice over how to provide for their children.
The UK Government has committed to bringing forward a child poverty strategy, sating: “we are failing our children if we are not investing in them and doing our best to meet their material, emotional and developmental needs.”
While we don’t agree with the current policy, we agree that investment in our children is needed, and fast.
Alongside 130 organisations in the End Child Poverty coalition, we’re calling on the UK Government to put an end to the two-child limit as part of the All Kids Count campaign. By taking this step, 540,000 children would be lifted out of absolute poverty – how can anyone argue with that?
Children shouldn’t grow up in poverty and it’s in everyone’s interest that we realise the changes needed to end poverty once and for all.
Stephanie Mander is social justice policy manager at Citizens Advice Scotland.
