Bringing Hope, Building Futures: Tackling child poverty delivery plan 2026-2031 – annex 9: Fairer Scotland Duty Impact Assessment (FSDIA)

Summary of aims and expected outcomes of strategy, proposal, programme or policy

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.

It builds on action taken over the life of the first two plans:

• Every child, every chance: tackling child poverty delivery plan 2018-2022
• Best Start, Bright Futures: tackling child poverty delivery plan 2022 to 2026

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

a) the measures that the Scottish Ministers propose to take during the period of the plan for the purpose of meeting the child poverty targets,

b) an assessment of the contribution the proposed measures are expected to make to meeting the child poverty targets,

c) an explanation of how that assessment has been arrived at, and

d) an assessment of the financial resources required to fund the proposed measures.

The plan specifically focuses on addressing socio-economic disadvantage, with a wide range of actions targeting families on low incomes, in deprived areas and with no/low wealth or in debt.

The plan sets out a strategic framework for delivery across 2026-31 and the analysis presented in this Fairer Scotland Duty Impact Assessment (FSDIA) is a summary of consideration across the four key themes and fifteen interconnected areas of intervention which make up the focus of the plan. This FSDIA is not intended to replace policy specific assessments. Some policies are already in implementation and have undergone an FSDIA, while other commitments in early development will require their own FSDIA to ensure that they are exercised in a way designed to reduce inequalities of outcome caused by socio-economic disadvantage. This FSDIA should be read, understood and used together with the other impact assessments which together have been used to inform the contents of the plan.

The plan builds on the work that has been undertaken through the first two delivery plans and has been informed by an extensive evidence base of research and policy expertise in relation to tackling child poverty, including the focus on priority family groups and the key drivers of child poverty reduction. 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 also jointly publish annual Local Child Poverty Action Reports, setting out what they are doing to reduce child poverty in their local area.

Given the focus of the plan, it will seek to address some key inequalities associated with socio-economic disadvantage. This includes action focused on continuing to tackle the poverty related attainment gap, improving the wellbeing and outcomes for families and enabling them to move out of poverty.