Bringing Hope, Building Futures: Tackling child poverty delivery plan 2026-2031 – annex 10: Islands Communities Impact Assessment (ICIA)

Step one – develop a clear understanding of your objectives

The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 (“the Act”) sets in statute ambitious targets to significantly reduce rates of child poverty in Scotland by 2030.

The final tackling child poverty delivery plan under the Act covers the period 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2031 and aims to:

• Set out a strategic framework to drive continued progress in delivering on the national mission to eradicate child poverty and meet the four statutory child poverty targets - relative, absolute and persistent poverty and combined low income and material deprivation - set out in the Act.
• Outline specific action to be delivered in 2026-27 which will drive continued progress against the targets.
• Build on evidence of the drivers of poverty reduction to drive progress on four key themes: increasing earned incomes; reducing the costs of living; maximising incomes from social security; and supporting children and families to thrive.

As set out in Section 9 of the Act, the delivery plan must set out:

• the measures that the Scottish Ministers propose to take during the period of the plan for the purpose of meeting the child poverty targets,
• an assessment of the contribution the proposed measures are expected to make to meeting the child poverty targets,
• an explanation of how that assessment has been arrived at, and
• an assessment of the financial resources required to fund the proposed measures.

The Act sets in statute four income-based child poverty targets to be met in the financial year beginning 1 April 2030. The targets are largely focused on household income, while also taking into account wider costs of living through the material deprivation measure. The 2030 targets are that, of children living in households in Scotland:

• Fewer than 10% of children live in relative poverty. This means fewer than one in ten children living in households with equivalised net incomes below 60% of the median (middle) equivalised net UK household income.
• Fewer than 5% of children live in families in absolute poverty. This means fewer than one in twenty children living in households with equivalised net incomes below 60% of the median equivalised net UK household income in 2010/11 adjusted for inflation.
• Fewer than 5% of children live in families living in combined low income and material deprivation. This means fewer than one in twenty children living in households with equivalised net incomes below 70% of the median equivalised net UK household income and going without certain essential goods and services.
• Fewer than 5% of children live in families in persistent poverty. This means fewer than one in twenty children living in households in relative poverty for three years out of the last four.

The Act requires Scottish Ministers to publish child poverty delivery plans at regular intervals. The first Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan - Every Child, Every Chance: tackling child poverty delivery plan 2018-2022 - was published on 29 March 2018 and set out the initial actions to be taken to progress towards the ambitious child poverty targets set for 2030. The second plan – Best Start, Bright Futures: tackling child poverty delivery plan 2022-2026 – was published on 24 March 2022 and outlined the action to build upon the first plan.

Since the publication of the first plan, the Scottish Government has produced annual progress reports outlining the action that has been taken and the impact towards the child poverty targets. Local Authorities and Health Boards (including those with island communities) also jointly publish annual Local Child Poverty Action Reports, setting out what they are doing to reduce child poverty in their local area.

Detail of progress toward the interim targets can be found in the 2024-25 annual progress report. The latest data on poverty will be published on 26 March 2026, reflecting a new link to DWP administrative data, which will help to further our understanding of poverty in Scotland.

There are no specific targets for the islands, with intended impacts and outcomes the same for both island and mainland communities. However, the context and therefore the policy interventions needed to achieve these outcomes and impact may vary, particularly in relation to increasing income from employment, reducing the costs of living and maximising incomes from social security.