Commissioner Bruce Adamson said:

“Investing in measures to address poverty has a positive impact on all parts of a child’s life. Reducing child poverty can significantly improve children’s development and have a hugely positive impact on their health, education, family, relationships and aspirations in life – both as a child and as an adult. Addressing the causes of child poverty also delivers economic benefits by reducing poverty related pressures on public services and supporting children to reach their full potential.   

“We welcome the commitment to add an additional £5 to the Scottish Child Payment by the end of the year and the £10 million fund to mitigate the UK Government’s benefit cap. But the Scottish Government must be more ambitious and move faster if it is serious about tackling child poverty. They must take a rights based approach and be flexible. They should incorporate learning from the previous Delivery Plan evaluation to ensure that actions are robust, effective and take into account feedback from children and young people.

“It is essential that children and young people with experience of poverty fully inform the work in this Plan. Continuous, meaningful participation across the four years covered by the Plan will allow it to be refined to ensure it is targeted and delivers what is needed.”

Our response to the Scottish Government’s rapid consultation on this Delivery Plan is here.