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

Step five – preparing your ICIA

This section sets out how the policy package set out in the plan currently impacts differently on island communities, where alternative delivery mechanisms are already or could be deployed, and where existing or proposed mitigations are in place. This assessment will not replace the need for new policies proposed in the delivery plan to undergo policy specific ICIAs.

Driven by evidence of the drivers of poverty reduction, and the views of those who shared their experiences with us, the plan focuses on four key themes (as outlined above) and 15 interconnected areas of intervention where further progress is needed in order to eradicate child poverty in Scotland.

This approach and the actions set out under these key themes and areas of intervention are assessed as having the potential to deliver significant positive impact on island communities, particularly if they continue to be developed and delivered in partnership with island communities. These strategic themes and areas of focus are outlined in more detail below with examples of how they should positively impact or mitigate negative impacts for island communities.

The overall assessment of this ICIA is that no negative impacts on island communities should be found as a result of the plan.

Strategic themes of the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan

Increasing earned incomes

The actions set out under this theme should have a positive impact on island communities, particularly through mitigating challenges caused by remoteness in relation accessing adequate public transport, childcare and employment and training opportunities.

The plan will drive progress on the following priorities to tackle inequalities and help parents and young people increase their earned incomes:

Providing aligned skills and employment support for parents and young people

We know that by providing families with the skills and employment support they need, we can help more parents and young people to access fulfilling employment, which provides a sustainable route out of poverty.

Given the employment challenges faced by those in island communities in certain sectors, the action set out in the plan should positively impact residents’ opportunities to upskill or reskill in order to find and sustain fulfilling employment.

An example of this is through the introduction of a new £2 million Training Access Fund to provide access to training opportunities for people in low-paid work. Together with other initiatives aimed strengthening employability skills, the Fund will strengthen our adult upskilling and reskilling offer, especially for those who need it most, including the six priority family groups.

Expanding the availability of flexible and affordable childcare for families

Childcare is essential infrastructure which not only supports children’s development, but also enables parents to access work, training and learning, in the knowledge their child is safe and well looked after.

Further expansion of childcare is key to unlocking further progress on child poverty and breaking the cycle of poverty for families, particularly in island and rural communities where they face additional challenges in accessing childcare that suits their needs. The plan sets out a range of action to tackle this, including:

• Investing over £1 billion in 2026-27 in funded Early Learning and Childcare, providing 1140 hours of funded childcare for all three and four year olds and eligible two year olds.
• Delivering a national breakfast club offer for primary school aged children with provision in all primary and special schools by August 2027, backed by over £100 million of investment across 2026-29 – estimated to support over 125,000 children each year.

This dedicated childcare support should benefit parents in island communities, particularly lone parents, to enter and access further employment or training opportunities.

Ensuring public transport is available, affordable and accessible

Families need a transport system that is available, affordable and accessible and which supports them to take advantage of all the opportunities available and keeps more money in their pockets.

We know that public transport availability, particularly in island and rural communities, can be a barrier for families, while costs can also be prohibitive for those on a low income. The action presented in the plan to improve Scotland’s public transport system should therefore particularly benefit those from island communities.

This includes investing up to £19 million in 2026-27 to develop a new Transport to Employment offer for low income parents. This will support parents with transport costs to access training and employability support whilst also increasing the availability of transport options for parents accessing work. It will also focus on addressing challenges faced by lone parents and families in areas where accessibility, availability and affordability of transport can affect pathways into work.

Driving positive change in labour market and workplace conditions

The plan also sets out actions aimed at ensuring the labour market provides good and sustainable jobs that are accessible to all; offering the wages, hours and conditions needed to allow parents to support their families.

These actions should help mitigate some of the challenges faced by island communities in terms of volatile employment with unpredictable incomes and a low take-up of the real living wage.

For example, the plan sets out a commitment to provide support to Living Wage Scotland to encourage Scottish employers to accredit as real living wage and real living hours employers, continuing our action which has seen at least 72,000 workers in Scotland benefit from a pay rise as a result of employer accreditation since 2015.

Reducing the costs of living

The actions set out under this theme should have a particularly positive impact on island communities by tackling the key factors which contribute to higher costs of living faced by families in island, rural and remote areas.

The plan will continue to drive progress in reducing the costs of living through action focused on:

Delivering more social and affordable homes for families

The plans sets out a wide range of action to address housing challenges in rural areas, which should positively impact those from island communities by reducing housing costs and increasing the money they have for other essentials.

This includes investing £4.1 billion over the next four years as part of a wider investment of up to £4.9 billion in affordable homes. This is estimated to support delivery of 36,000 affordable homes and provide up to 24,000 children with a place to call home. This planned investment supports our continued commitment towards the delivery of 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, of which at least 70% will be for social rent and 10% in rural and island communities as well as our wider all-tenure ambition.

Ending child homelessness

The plan sets out a range of action to ensure people experiencing homelessness are offered a settled home as soon as possible and to end children living in unsuitable temporary accommodation.

Though this may not have direct impacts for those on island communities, specific actions should benefit individual island residents.

Making homes cheaper to heat

The plan outlines a commitment to doing all we can to improve the energy efficiency of homes to support families and reduce the costs they face. These actions are in addition to the targeted support we deliver, such as our Child Winter Heating Payment and Scottish Welfare Fund.

We know that fuel poverty is especially prevalent in island and rural communities. Fuel poverty is primarily driven by energy prices which have increased significantly in recent years and the key levers to drive change remain reserved to the UK Government.

The plan contains a commitment to continue tackling fuel poverty and support greater energy efficiency through Warmer Homes Scotland and Area Based Schemes (ABS) delivery programmes, with the 2026-27 budget including up to £64 million in funding for locally designed and delivered ABS projects. Heating, insulation and renewable measures installed through Warmer Homes Scotland saved households around £450 a year on average on their fuel bills in 2024-25. This would particularly benefit those from island communities who are in or at risk of fuel poverty.

The plan also commits to investing a further £1 million in our Islands Cost Crisis Emergency Fund, supporting vulnerable island households, with a specific focus on tackling child poverty. Working in partnership with island local authorities this will deliver targeted initiatives tailored to local needs, including in support of fuel payments and energy costs.

Tackling public sector debt

The plan sets out a range of action to support people throughout Scotland with debt. Debt, including debt owed to the public sector, reduces the money families have to buy the essentials they need and traps them in poverty.

Though these actions may not have direct impacts for those on island communities, specific actions may benefit individual island residents.

Maximising incomes from social security

Social security is the most direct measure to tackle child poverty, as more money in families’ pockets lifts children out of poverty. The actions under this key themes will positively impact island communities by making it easier to access social security entitlements, increasing the availability of advice services and reducing the stigma we know some island communities feel around accessing these entitlements.

To drive further progress in this area, the plan will sets out action focused on:

Strengthening support through social security

By continuing to strengthen the support delivered through social security in Scotland, and focusing on driving high levels of take-up, we will ensure that more families receive the support they need.

Through our consultation we heard about the importance of further strengthening support through social security for families to improve their standards of living and drive progress toward the child poverty targets – this included calls to increase the value of the Scottish Child Payment.

Though this may not have direct impacts for those on island communities, specific actions should benefit individual island residents.

Maximising take-up of Scottish and UK Government benefits to ensure all families receive the support they are entitled to

Social security is an investment in the people of Scotland and we want to ensure families are maximising the support to which they are entitled. We have heard through our engagement about the importance of putting money into people’s pockets, tackling the stigma and shame people can feel when accessing social security, and addressing barriers to take-up – particularly for people living in rural areas.

The plan commits to continue to raise awareness of entitlements and seek to address stigma, that we know affects those in island communities. This includes delivering a national, multi-channel Parental Employability and Financial Support campaign to help families access available support. This will include locally targeted and tailored signposting to information, advice and support to apply for benefits they are entitled to - including reserved benefits such as Universal Credit. Publishing the next Benefit Take-up Strategy for Scottish Government benefits, setting out how we will support take up of devolved benefits over 2026-2031.

Increasing accessibility of money and debt advice for families

Families need access to high quality and trusted advice in order to navigate the support available to increase their incomes, secure their rights, and tackle financial challenges including unmanageable debt.

Advice services also play a key role in helping families get the best deals on utilities, including for energy and internet access, which we know is a particularly pertinent issue for those in island communities.

We know from evidence and consultation that accessibility of these advice services remains an issue in many island and rural communities. The plan sets out to mitigate against some of these challenges by strengthening accessibility of the services, for example through providing funding of £6 million for the Advice in Accessible settings Fund by the end of 2028-29, which we expect will support over 7,500 people each year.

Supporting children and families to thrive

The final key theme focuses on ensuring families and children have access to the support they need, when they need it, for as long as they need it.

We want support to be person-centred, seamless and holistic, and to meet families where they are, including in island, rural and remote areas. The plan emphasises the need for services to put in place the foundations needed for families to move and stay out of poverty.

Actions to further support children and families to thrive are therefore focused on:

• Supporting young families: investing in early child development
• Supporting young people during their school years
• Delivering Whole Family Support
• Making the best use of data to support children and families and improve public services

Conclusion

Across the policies and actions set out in the tackling child poverty delivery plan, the intended impact on island communities is generally positive, with a mix of universal and targeted interventions that will address some of the barriers identified in existing research and through our consultation process.

However, particularly for universal policies, it will be important to ensure implementation does in fact benefit island communities as planned, and any necessary design modifications are adequately resourced. Our vision is to increasingly improve and better understand the specific contextual difficulties for tackling child poverty in rural and island areas, and to ensure that this understanding is embedded in the child poverty policies that are being developed and delivered across the Scottish Government. Policy specific ICIAs will be required where appropriate, and these will form the basis of any island-specific mitigations.