Bringing Hope, Building Futures: Tackling child poverty delivery plan 2026-2031

Supporting children and families to thrive

Since 2018, to support children and families to thrive we have:

Delivered over 360,000 baby boxes to parents, with essential items worth more than £400 to support the first six months of a baby’s life.

Delivered the Family Nurse Partnership across Scotland, allowing us to provide around 9,000 families with intensive home-based support. Invested £1.75 billion in the Scottish Attainment Challenge - supporting our schools to deliver record low attainment gaps in literacy and numeracy.

Continued to invest in Bookbug programmes, giving every child at least 14 books by the age of five and encouraging a love of reading from an early age.

Removed core curriculum charges from 2021 onward, ensuring that families do not have to meet the costs of resources and materials for practical lessons.

Expanded our Free School Meal offer - making free school meals available to over 350,000 pupils in Scotland, saving families who take up the offer every school day £450 per Continued to child per year.

Continued deliver Education Maintenance Allowance, providing financial support of £30 per week to young people aged 16-19 from low-income households.

Introduced guidance to reduce the cost of school uniforms for families and increased the value of the School Clothing Grant to at least £120 for primary school pupils and £150 for secondary school pupils.

Established Fairer Future Partnerships in 16 local authority areas to bring together services across childcare, education, health and social care, housing, employment and beyond, to provide Whole Family Support.

“Poverty restricts people from living up to expectations, it affects the confidence of children - even their education. The opportunity offered to them should not be based on location or the income of parents.”

Cara A., Changing Realities

We want support to be person-centred, seamless and holistic, and to meet families where they are. Families should not have to repeat their stories to different services, nor should they be anxious about accessing support when they need it.

No two families are the same and each will experience different challenges and barriers at different times in their lives. We know the priority family groups may encounter multiple and overlapping challenges, so they need support that fits their specific situation.

By ensuring that families and children in Scotland can access the support they need, when they need it, for as long as they need it, we will help break the cycle of poverty, create the conditions for every child to thrive, and ultimately build a future adult population that is healthier, happier and better able to contribute to society.

To drive further progress we will take action 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

Supporting young families: investing in early child development

“The first year is the most important, that’s when they build a secure attachment with their family. That shouldn’t be restricted because of income.”

Parent, Save the Children

The earliest years of a child’s life are critical in their development. What happens between pre-birth and age three provides the foundation for longer-term outcomes including lifelong health and wellbeing. When families have the care and support they need during this period, children can grow and thrive.

Poverty makes this much harder. Support must start early – before and during pregnancy and into early childhood – to prevent challenges before they arise and give every child the best start in life. That is why we continue to provide critical core funding to third sector organisations that support early intervention, and we offer the strongest package of financial support for newborns and new parents in the UK.

This approach has been endorsed by those working with children and families, and through our consultation we heard that reliable support makes a real difference. Midwives, health visitors and family nurses play a vital role as key, trusted points of contact for families with young children who are facing adversity.

In the year ahead we will maintain the progress we have made, including by continuing to:

• Further strengthen the role of universal and specialist health services, including health visitors and maternity services, to maximise incomes focusing on prevention and early intervention as part of person-centred care before, during and after pregnancy.

We will also drive further progress by:

• Investing an additional £1.1 million to expand the Family Nurse Partnership to support up to an additional 500 young parents in 2026-27 through this person-centred, evidence-based intervention to address the core drivers of child poverty and to improve early child development.
• Delivering a targeted campaign to promote benefit take-up, employability and practical advice for new parents and people considering parenthood to maximise the support available to them, ensure they understand their rights and can give their children the best possible start.
• Supporting an expansion of Bookbug with £500,000 funding across 2026-28 to increase the provision of Bookbug sessions in SIMD 1 and SIMD 2 areas, provide additional books and resources for Bookbug for the Home families, support parental literacy development and work with national partners such as Home-Start to further embed Bookbug practice to support low-income families.

Ensuring children and young people can reach their full potential

“Oftentimes, my children face bullying, isolation and stigma due to our immigration status, and miss out on school trips or extracurricular activities as I am unable to afford it… there should be opportunities for every child in Scotland to participate in extracurricular activities, and school trips, without barriers.”

Bernie O., Changing Realities

School plays a crucial role in a young person’s life – a place where they learn, develop new skills, make friends and discover new opportunities. Young people have told us that teachers and school staff are important role models and trusted adults for them. But poverty can hold young people back, affecting their learning, confidence and ability to fully take part in school life.

We have heard from young people that the costs associated with the school day can cause real stress, leaving them feeling stigmatised or left out. They highlighted the importance of creating inclusive and non-judgemental school environments where every young person can take part.

We want every young person to have a positive and fulfilling experience at school. To make this possible, we must empower our headteachers to put the right support in place for young people and their families to help close the poverty-related attainment gap. Every child should be able to go to school feeling comfortable, confident and ready to learn.

In the year ahead we will maintain progress by continuing to:

• Invest up to £200 million and review the evidence of the impact of the Scottish Attainment Challenge to support the improved attainment and outcomes of children and young people impacted by poverty. This includes Pupil Equity Funding allocated to schools for headteachers to implement local approaches to meet the needs of their children, young people and families.
• Fund the provision of Free School Meals for all pupils in primary 1-5, pupils in primary 6 and 7 whose families are in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment and eligible pupils from P6-S6.
• Provide increased funding of £14.6 million in 2026-27 to support local authorities to maintain the School Clothing Grant.

We will also drive further progress by:

• Expanding the MCR Pathways school-based mentoring programme for care experienced and disadvantaged young people to reach up to 5,500 young people in schools across Scotland.
• Working with local authorities to expand Free School Meals to children from families in receipt of Pension Credit and increase the Administrative Earnings Threshold – enabling a further 5,500 pupils to access nutritious and healthy food, by investing up to £3 million.

Delivering Whole Family Support

“My perfect family support service would be a service where parents are fully involved in the making of the support, more visits, more information, more communication between all services… The care must be more individual and suited to the child and family’s needs.”

Parent, Glasgow Promise Project Consultation Report

Families told us that poverty and the challenges it creates need to be addressed holistically – bringing together practical help, with safe and secure housing as a foundation, alongside financial advice and emotional support.

This will require major changes to how services work. We need to remove barriers between services; align policy, funding and delivery; and hold ourselves and our partners accountable for progress. Staff should be empowered to work across organisational boundaries, while leaders focus on people and place, tackling root causes early and driving long-term change. Communities should also have a stronger voice in shaping local priorities, supported by public bodies that share power and resources.

We recognise that this type of system-wide change will take time. In line with our work to keep the Promise, we are committed to working with partners throughout the lifetime of this plan to realise a transformative shift in how Scotland’s support system operates – and, most importantly, how families in the centre of this system experience it.

At the same time, families need support now. So while we drive this longer-term change, we will also enhance our support for those organisations delivering Whole Family Support today.

In the year ahead we will maintain the progress we have made, including by continuing to:

• Deliver and invest around £6 million in our Fairer Futures Partnership programme, which will enable close partnership working with 16 local authorities to further test and embed improved delivery of holistic support for families in or at risk of poverty, and providing Adopt and Adapt funding to all remaining local authorities, giving them the capacity to embed emerging learning in their work to deliver Whole Family Support.
• Provide investment of £50 million and support to local areas to improve and scale holistic Whole Family Support through the Whole Family Wellbeing Funding Programme. Enabling local areas to respond to the needs of their communities and shift towards a sustainable approach to investment in early, preventative support that will help to keep the Promise and tackle poverty.
• Invest a further £15 million in our Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults, continuing support for grassroots community projects providing a range of mental health and wellbeing supports and services across Scotland. By prioritising people at higher risk of poor mental health, including families at greatest risk of poverty, this will help to tackle inequalities and support communities across Scotland to build resilience.
• Invest in innovation through our Child Poverty Practice Accelerator Fund to support action to strengthen local approaches to tackling child poverty, with £1.9 million committed across 2026-28.

We will also drive further progress by:

• Establishing a £20 million Whole Family Support Third Sector Delivery Fund. This will enable third sector organisations to provide more support that wraps around families in their communities, making connections to public services and helping to break the cycle of poverty.
• Developing an integrated Whole Family Support programme which brings together our work across Fairer Future Partnerships, Whole Family Wellbeing Funding and Whole Family Support Early Adopter Areas from April 2027. This will streamline and strengthen approaches to local systems change – providing a clear offer to local areas that supports the implementation of Whole Family Support approaches that best meet the needs of local communities.
• Investing £2.2 million to expand Whole Family Support in General Practice, initially doubling coverage in Glasgow and preparing for expansion to other localities from 2027-28 onwards. This will provide highly targeted, preventative support for 500 families, making the most of General Practice’s unique position in the health service.

Case Study - CentreStage helping young people realise their potential

Under ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’ we committed to coming together and working differently to focus on delivery, testing transformational change through the Social Innovation Partnership and Fairer Futures Partnerships*.

CentreStage is a long-standing Social Innovation Partnership partner and is embedded in the East Ayrshire Fairer Futures Partnership.

The CentreStage Village is an integrated, community-led model of early intervention, tackling the drivers of child poverty by connecting families to opportunity, wellbeing, skills and support in one accessible, place-based setting, seven days a week.

Tina’s experience of CentreStage shows how this Social Innovation Partnership has helped young people develop.

Tina had struggled with attending school and left with few qualifications. At home, pressures were high as her mum was also a foster carer supporting a child with autism, Ashley. Tina had a wellbeing score aligned with clinical depression, and her responses to assessment showed low energy, poor confidence and limited connection with others.

CentreStage had already been working with Ashley through its Rising Stars activities, and a conversation with the family led to them connecting Tina with Skills Development Scotland. This was significant – it was the first time in weeks she had left the house. Tina, who has a strong creative talent, was directed toward a creative industries course. Although initially very quiet and withdrawn, she attended consistently and gradually built trust with staff.

After a couple of months, Tina’s confidence had noticeably improved, and she felt motivated to apply for college and was accepted onto a social science course for 2026. Leading up to college enrolment, Tina is volunteering with Little Arts School and CentreStage to continue to build skills for the future.

This early intervention has improved Tina’s wellbeing, strengthened family relationships, and supported Tina to engage in further education, strengthening her future employment options. CentreStage estimates that this support could result in a public financial saving of up to £35,000 over five years.

*Referred to as ‘local pathfinders’ in Best Start, Bright Futures

Making best use of data to support children and families and improve public services

“I have to make five different calls to five different people, repeat the same thing again and again, try to make that understanding that I had with one person, one of the authorities – it’s a lot of repetition, and at the end of the day you are put on a waiting list, saying ‘we’ll get back to you’ - it puts a lot of people off asking for help.”

Panellist, Get Heard Scotland

We know that better use of data can help create public services that are not only more efficient, but more targeted, preventative and person-centred – designed for and with people and communities. People have told us that we need to use data more effectively to join up services, identify families who need support and to target help where it will make the biggest difference. This will be a key part of enabling Whole Family Support.

Data is complex and comes with legal and ethical responsibilities, and we know there are barriers that prevent organisations from using it effectively. Data is only useful if organisations are equipped to securely process, handle and store it, and ultimately to use it to shape better, more responsive services. That is why working with local authorities to help them make the best use of data – and working with citizens to understand their views on how data should be used to eradicate child poverty – will be central to all our data sharing activities.

Building on progress to date and the recent Digital Strategy and Public Service Reform Strategy, we will take action to help public services use data more confidently and effectively to help families access the right support.

In the year ahead we will maintain the progress we have made by continuing to:

• Work with the UK Government Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to expand the data sharing powers in the UK Digital Economy Act 2017 to support policies to eradicate child poverty and to provide Whole Family Support. These arrangements will support fairer and more effective debt recovery, help identify vulnerable debtors earlier, and increase take-up of benefits by identifying eligible households who are not yet receiving it.

We will also drive further progress by:

• Working with local authorities and other partners to support the implementation of data sharing intended to enable proactive support to be put in place for families and improve public service delivery.
• Investing £2 million to develop and implement a ‘Once For Scotland’ Data Exchange programme. This will help make the Scottish public sector more confident to unlock the potential of data, ensuring families get the services and support they need.