Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Bill: children's rights and wellbeing impact assessment

7. What evidence have you used to inform your assessment?

We have considered a range of evidence including analysis by Scottish Government analysts, internal and external published research and the analysis of the and the New Deal for Tenants Consultation. Consideration has been taken of the consultation on the Coronavirus Recovery and Reform (Scotland) Bill. This evidence suggests that the current cost crisis will have a major impact on renters.

In Scotland 21% of tenants in the PRS have children, and in the SRS this figure rises to 25%. (Source : SHS Data Explorer (shinyapps.io) figures for 2019) Rented households are more likely to have lower household incomes, higher levels of poverty and to be financially vulnerable. When looking at children in relative poverty, 47% of children in social rented households and 40% of children in private rented households are in poverty, compared to 10% of children in households buying with a mortgage and 18% of children in households who own outright^[2].

Rented households are also more likely to be in fuel poverty. With the price cap frozen at £2,500, we estimate that 54% of households in the SRS and 48% of households in the PRS will be in fuel poverty. This compares to 24% of owner occupied households. As the cost of living crisis is primarily being driving by an increase energy and fuel costs.

Students, often reliant on fixed funding streams such as bursaries, grants and loans, are also vulnerable to cost of living increases, making it more likely they will be pushed into poverty. An NUS survey found that 92% of UK students said the cost-of-living crisis was impacting their mental health, 96% are cutting back, 68% can no longer afford course materials, and more than 1 in 10 are using food banks.

Over recent years the private rented sector has seen an increasing number of families calling it home. There are now an estimated 70,000 family households out of 340,000 in the private rented sector in Scotland, based on the household composition categories of large family, small family and single parent households within Scottish Household Survey (SHS) results.

SHS data for 2019 also highlights that, 9% of social rented households were single parent families, 10% were small families and 6% were large families. Many of these family households will be significantly impacted by the current cost crisis, therefore these policies being taken forward to help protect renters are highly likely to have a positive impact on both children and young people residing within these rented family homes.