Eradicating Child Poverty: First Minister's speech - 9 March 2026

Good morning, it is a pleasure to be here. Thank you very much to Fiona for welcoming us to CentreStage and for everything you have achieved here in this wonderful venue.

This building is so much more than a theatre. It is a place, as Fiona has set out, that brings the community together – across public, private, and third sector organisations – to help people unlock their potential and get where they want to be in life. 

No matter your circumstances or your background, this place helps you to grow. 

It is that same belief that guides me and my government in our mission to eradicate child poverty.

So, I can think of no better place to reflect on how far we have come, in our journey to eradicate child poverty and outline my vision for where we go from here, because we are at a point of unfinished business, but a point of significant progress.

We have already made great progress towards ending child poverty in Scotland.

Child poverty rates in Scotland are 9 percentage points lower than in the United Kingdom as a whole. In 2023-24, rates of relative child poverty here fell to their lowest level in almost a decade.

That equates to roughly 90,000 fewer children living in poverty in Scotland.

90,000 children with better life chances because of the action we have taken together. That is tremendous progress. 

But 90,000 is not the same as “all.”

And our goal is “all” – every single child. One child growing up in poverty is one child too many.

No child should have their choices and opportunities curtailed by poverty.

No child should have to worry about their basic needs – about heating, clothing, or eating.

No child should have to face the additional challenge at school of being too hungry or too tired to learn.

And no child should grow up to have fewer job prospects, poorer health and mental health outcomes, or a shorter life.

It reduces our collective prosperity and adds strain to our public services. It curtails those children’s futures and as result it curtails Scotland’s future.                      

So we are not here just to reduce child poverty in Scotland. We are here to eradicate it. Utterly and completely.

To do that, we need to do things differently, and I am confident everyone in this room shares that understanding.

In many ways, today is the next step in a conversation we have been having together for quite some time now.

I think we all acknowledge that we must shift the balance of investment away from crisis response and recovery.

We must build a system that is seamless and tailored, investing in preventative efforts, responding flexibly and quickly to people’s needs – thus preventing anyone from reaching a point of crisis before they get the support they require.

But making that system a reality takes all of to work together. That is what last year’s Whole Family Support events were all about.

I know many of you attended and led many of those events.

Since then, my Government has focused on embedding the eradication of child poverty right across Government. 

• In Getting It Right For Every Child
• In our commitment to Keeping The Promise
• In our Public Health and Public Service Reform strategies
• In our Service Renewal Framework for Health and Social Care

But this cannot be solved by government strategies alone. It will take all of us working together to achieve our objectives.

And this, again, is why I am glad we are here at CentreStage.

Those of you who attended our events last year will remember we talked about all the groundbreaking work going on across Scotland. And the need for us to learn from that work, to mainstream it and make it standard practice everywhere.

My government first started working with CenteStage back in 2016. We were interested in its model of wraparound support for people and families.

One that brings the people and third sector together, along with the public sector – to deliver together, to learn together, and to build a better future for Kilmarnock together. Building on individual strengths, complementing each other and delivering transformative support as a consequence.

Our partnership with East Ayrshire Council, through the Fairer Futures Partnership, is already working to scale this up across the whole local authority area. And we have 16 such partnerships working all across Scotland. 

They are breaking down barriers and building new holistic systems that work for families and people, rather than for the system itself.

Alongside our Whole Family Wellbeing Funding, they are supporting collaboration between the third sector and public services. This is already starting to deliver stronger Whole Family Support.

In government in the last year, we have made “Adopt and Adapt” funding available to local authorities not currently involved in the Fairer Futures Partnerships programme. 

This will help them engage with the programme’s learning and evaluation, and embed its lessons in their local area.                                                            

Because the third sector is so important to this work, we are taking steps to ensure those of you who are in the third sector can keep doing all the great things you do for years to come.

We have increased the use of multi-year funding for third sector organisations to provide greater stability and certainty, and to enable organisations to focus on the vital work of supporting communities.  

And, since the eradication of child poverty is our foremost priority, we have expanded this to include funding for advice services to support families across Scotland with welfare, debt and income maximisation advice into the bargain.

We will continue to deliver this and our Fairer Future Funding, and we will develop a new partnership agreement with the sector to further strengthen its voice.

And today, I am pleased to confirm that a total of £5.8 million of Whole Family Wellbeing Funding is being directed to seven projects that are helping to transform how families all across Scotland are supported in 2026–27.

This funding will go to projects like Whole Family Support through General Practice, which supports 12 organisations – as well as a variety of community resources – to offer early intervention, holistic support, and empowerment to families registered with participating practices.

And it will go to Aberlour’s Mother and Child Houses, which support mothers in recovery to keep their children safely in their care, reducing trauma and improving outcomes.

To date, 70% of children involved in Aberlour’s programme have avoided statutory care and remained full time with their mothers, which is a fundamental point we are trying to achieve to avoid the disruption and division of families.

Additionally, last November, when the UK Government finally agreed to end its 2 Child Limit, I made it clear that the resources Scotland had earmarked to mitigate the policy would go directly to supporting families experiencing poverty.

It was clear to me that third sector partners already working with these families were the right vehicle to deliver this.

And what an impact that initial funding has had.

Aberlour, for example, used an investment of £550,000 in their Urgent Assistance Fund to deliver support to over 1,000 families across 30 local authorities.

That included cash grants for families and help with debt repayment – providing direct, urgent support to families in need over the winter period.

Similarly Children 1^st received an investment of £1.5 million to support families facing financial hardship. To date this has supported 1,200 families across Scotland, providing vital assistance to get to a better place.   

All of this is great progress. But we need to keep up the good work.  And we will.

On Thursday, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice Shirley-Anne Somerville will set out the next steps on how we will do this in a statement to parliament – when she launches our new Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan.

The Plan will set out a framework by which we will deliver the 2030 targets. It will continue to focus:

• On the drivers of poverty
• On the safety-net of social security
• On strengthening our employability and skills offer
• On growing and expanding childcare
• And on reducing household costs so that families are safe and secure

Many of you were instrumental in the creation of this Plan. Once again, I want to thank you for all your contributions in that endeavour.

Through your engagement with Ministers and officials, and through helping us to hear directly from children, young people and parents experiencing poverty – your support, your challenge, your advocacy, and your activism has shaped and improved our work. 

I hope, on Thursday, when the announcement of all the details are set out to parliament, you notice the difference you have made. 

All of you are key allies in delivering Whole Family Support, and this plan will set out how we move closer together to make it a reality across Scotland.

Indeed, the Plan’s progress will be driven by partnership – by listening to, trusting and championing local government and the third sector.  

Not as a separate systems, but as different parts of the same whole.  Building that integrated, collaborative model that CentreStage illustrates so beautifully for us today.

And the Budget and Spending Review makes a downpayment on the Plan – committing £50 million for Whole Family Support and increased investment in our Tackling Child Poverty Fund.

So, now that I have set all that out, I have an ask of you.

You will remember that, at last year’s events, I asked you to listen and learn from each other, to make connections, and to lead collaboratively.  I continue to ask you to do that. 

But I also want you to increase our focus on partnership and continue to hunt down great ideas and groundbreaking work, and champion that activity. 

Everyone here is a key part of our system, so we are all a key part of making it better. 

For those of you in the third sector, keep sharing your expertise and innovation, and that knowledge you gain from working so closely with families. 

Keep working with us to spread advancements and build new solutions.  If we are to make this system what it needs to be, we need you involved right from the outset.

For public sector colleagues, keep thinking hard about how we reform planning, commissioning and budgeting processes so that we deliver more personalised support earlier, and get the greatest value for every penny spent.

Most of all, I ask everyone here to keep working with my government to make Whole Family Support a reality everywhere. 

We must make this the foundation of our efforts to eradicate child poverty here in Scotland.

So that instead of being too tired and too hungry, our children can spend their days learning and playing and growing.

So that instead of worrying about their parents or the bills, they can learn who they are and what they want to achieve in their lives.

And so that, instead of growing up too quickly, our children can spend their days, quite simply, being children. 

And, in time – with our support, with the achievement of our ambition to eradicate child poverty – these children will become the wonderful adults we know they have the potential to be.