Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland 2022-25

4   Children

Children are more likely to be in poverty across all measures compared to the overall population. This is partly because parents/guardians, in general, tend to earn less when their children are young compared with adults in households without children. Secondly, larger households have their incomes reduced to a greater degree during the income equivalisation process to take account of the fact that the household income must go further than for a smaller household.

The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 requires us to report every year on four different child poverty measures. The latest single-year estimates can be found in the Child poverty summary (available for download under the “Supporting documents” section). In this report, however, we show three-year averaged estimates only, which are better for seeing long term trends. In this publication, a ‘child’ refers to a dependent child. This is explained in the Definitions section.

4.1     Relative poverty

Relative child poverty rates, after housing costs, fell between the mid-nineties (32%) and 2010-13 (21%), with a pause in the decline around the 2008/09 recession. The poverty rate subsequently rose slightly to 25% by 2018-21. The before housing cost trend is similar.

The most recent linked data estimates that 21% of children (210,000 children each year) were living in relative poverty after housing costs (2022-25). Before housing costs, the rate was 19% of children (180,000 children each year). Further years of linked data are required to confirm a more recent trend and care should be taken in making direct comparisons before and after the linkage break.

4.1.1  Working poverty

Having paid work is an effective way out of poverty, and those families where all adults are in full-time work have a low poverty risk. But having a job is not always enough, for example when it does not pay well, or when someone is unable to work enough hours.

Figure 4 shows the make-up of children in poverty. It is estimated that in 2022-25, 75% of children in relative poverty after housing costs were living in working households.

The terms ‘working’ and ‘in-work poverty’ here refer to paid employment. They do not include unpaid work such as caring for your children or other family members. In-work poverty refers to the share of children in poverty who live in households where at least one member of the household is in either full- or part-time paid work.

4.2     Absolute poverty

The long-term pattern for absolute child poverty is similar to relative child poverty although absolute child poverty, set to a 2010/11 reference year, fell from higher levels in the mid 1990s. Since around 2013-16 the after housing costs rate has remained largely flat while the before housing costs rate has risen slowly since the mid-2010s.

The most recent linked data, set to a 2024/25 reference year, shows that absolute child poverty after housing costs affected 23% (230,000 children each year). Before housing costs, absolute child poverty was at 20% (200,000 children each year). The increase in absolute poverty rates, following the break, is expected because real incomes in the 2024/25 reference year are higher than in 2010/11. Thus the median income used to set the poverty threshold is higher. Further years of linked data are required to confirm the most recent trend and care should be taken in making direct comparisons before and after the linkage break.

4.3     Material deprivation

Combined low income and child material deprivation is an additional way of measuring living standards. It is about households who cannot afford basic goods and activities that are seen as necessities in society.

Child material deprivation estimates from 2023/24 are based on an updated suite of questions on the FRS. For the updated measure, respondents are asked whether they have access to a list of 22 goods and services. A child is classified as being in combined low income and child material deprivation if they live in a family that is lacking 4 or more items and has a household income below 70% of the median.

Users should refer to the background notes or DWP’s Material Deprivation Technical Report for more information on the methodological update.

An estimated 11% of children were living in combined low income and material deprivation after housing costs in the most recent period. Before housing costs, this was 10% of children. Please note these estimates are for a two-year average (covering the 2023/24 and 2024/25 survey years). Figure 6 presents these figures as dots to denote the discontinuity in the series and they should not be compared with the three-year averages from previous years.

This measure is also influenced by the data linkage change shown by the dotted line in Figure 6. At present, only one linked data point exists, based on the older material deprivation questions. More comparable estimates will be available when the 2018/19 and 2019/20 linked data is released in summer 2026. This period is notable because COVID-19 restrictions limited families’ ability to take part in certain activities for reasons other than affordability, which affected how people answered the material deprivation questions.

4.4     Deep material poverty

This report includes the new deep material poverty measure for children. This measure was developed by DWP to capture children experiencing a deeper level of poverty with first results published in December 2025. It is one of the headline metrics for the UK Child Poverty Strategy but is not a statutory target measure for the Scottish Government.

This measure is drawn from a subset of the 22 child material deprivation questions; of these 13 are seen as “essential items”. A child is classified as being in deep material poverty if they lack at least 4 out of 13 essential items. A lack is defined as being due to financial constraints rather than personal choice.

It is estimated that 11% of children were in deep material poverty. This initial estimate for Scotland is a two-year average over 2023/24 and 2024/25, the period for which the updated material deprivation questions are available.