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

Summary of assessment findings

This third delivery plan represents a strategic framework for delivery across 2026-31. By taking this approach, the plan aims to ensure that the Scottish Government remains agile to any unforeseen challenges and opportunities, allowing action to be refined and strengthened as needed to drive the progress required in the years ahead. With the Scottish elections due to take place in May 2026, this plan is also designed to give the next administration a strong foundation to build on, while allowing them to set their own policy priorities and decide how best to speed up progress.

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. By taking a holistic approach, the plan aims to deliver the systemic shift needed to eradicate child poverty, strengthen equality of outcomes and opportunity for all families and children and provide the support families need to break the cycle of poverty.

Throughout the plan, we highlight the challenges families face and the action we will take to deliver change. By taking an intersectional approach to the design, implementation and evaluation of policies – for example by focusing on the priority families, gender or other inequalities, and whether families live in remote and rural areas - we seek to tackle these systemic challenges and barriers, ensuring that our approaches address deep-rooted inequalities. We will work with our stakeholders and with families themselves to ensure that our action is making the difference needed to their lives.

This approach aims to help to drive down levels of child poverty whilst delivering significant progress on our wider equality and human rights ambitions, particularly in relation to advancing equality and human rights for women, disabled people and minority ethnic people.

The plan addresses inequalities associated with particular groups through its continued focus on the priority family types. These priority groups have a correlation with several of the protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act 2010, as well as reflecting communities which have historically been at risk of inequalities of outcome as a result of socio-economic disadvantage.

Analysis of the consultation process with stakeholders showed there was broad consensus across the written call and engagement that the four strategic themes tested are right. However, there were some suggestions for refinement and additional themes as outlined below:

1. Increasing earned incomes by supporting and providing opportunities for parents and carers, to enter, sustain and progress in work. This includes through the likes of employability support and the provision of essential infrastructure such as childcare and transport.

Suggestions from consultation

• Avoid a ‘work at all costs’ framing.
• Ensure a focus on the quality of employment and progression.

2. Reducing the costs of living and maximising incomes from social security to allow families to live dignified lives and meet their basic needs. This includes through the likes of social security, affordable homes, and advice services.

Suggestions from consultation

• Separate maximising income from social security and reducing cost of living.

3. Delivering holistic and whole family support to improve outcomes and wellbeing and enable families to better engage with other services that directly increase their incomes. This includes through action focused on preventing families falling into poverty and wider community-based support.

Suggestions from consultation

• Greater emphasis on early days of childhood and mental health and trauma.
• Clarity of language and meaning.

4. Supporting children and young people to reach their full potential and to break the cycle of poverty in the longer term. This includes through the likes of early years support, education, and post-school transitions.

Suggestions from consultation

• Greater focus on first 1,000 days and earlier development.

Themes that emerged from the consultation with children and young people included:

• More youth clubs/activities needed for young people
• Awareness raising programmes
• Tackling stigma – kindness is important
• Families need support with childcare, employment
• Parity between vocational and high education post-school routes
• Support mental health
• Cost of school day
• Trusted adults

As a result of the consultation process undertaken, areas of intervention and actions within the plan have been identified and strengthened.

Overall, no negative impacts have been identified from the plan in relation to equalities of outcome caused by socio-economic disadvantage. There may be positive impacts on outcomes for individuals and families given the plan’s focus on increasing earned incomes, maximising incomes from social security and reducing the costs of living.

However, looking forward, as a result of the Fairer Scotland Duty assessment it is recommended to:

• Consider options to continue engagement with the groups that have helped to inform the plan - particularly looking at how these groups could form part of or feed into the delivery structure overseeing implementation of the plan. This will enable greater monitoring of how policies are contributing to reducing inequalities for these groups.
• Ensure that individual policies and actions set out in the plan undertake their own Fairer Scotland Duty Impact Assessment where appropriate to tackle inequalities of outcome caused by socio-economic disadvantage.
• Consider options to strengthen data collection, analysis and use across policy areas, specifically to better understand how policies within the Tackling Child Poverty Plan are a) reaching and b) impacting on priority families and other marginalised groups.