Scottish Government high level action plan in response to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

14: Poverty

Thematic Tags

Poverty; Child Poverty; Children’s Rights; Care; Social security; Adequate standard of living; Maximum available resources; Migrants; Racialised minorities; Disability; Gender; LGBTQI+; Rural

Concluding Observations:

45a: T he Committee urges the State Party, along with the devolved governments […] To develop or enhance measures to address the multidimensional determinants of poverty […] by focusing on poverty eradication through clear, measurable targets, paying particular attention to groups disproportionately affected, including migrants, ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, female-headed households and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons, in the regions and cities most affected and ensure sufficient resources for effective monitoring and implementation.

45b: The Committee urges the State Party, along with the devolved governments: To expedite the adoption or enhancement of measures, including necessary fiscal reforms and increased budget allocations, to end child poverty […] setting clear targets and timelines, establishing reporting obligations and oversight and participatory mechanisms and providing adequate resources for implementation.

Context

Eradicating poverty is a national mission of this government. We have supported families through the continued delivery of key anti-poverty actions. This includes no one left behind – our approach to devolved employability support – which has supported 28,030 parents between April 2020 and June 2025; delivery of 4,947 affordable homes across Scotland, between April and December 2024, 3,981 of which were for social rent; and investment of £41 million for people struggling with energy costs in winter 2024-25. We are also providing free bus travel for 2.3 million people, including all children and young people under 22, disabled people and everyone age 60 and over, and permanently scrapped peak rail fares on ScotRail services from 1 September 2025 – making everyday commutes cheaper.

The latest poverty statistics, published in March 2025, show that the rates of both relative and absolute child poverty were 9 percentage points lower than the UK average in 2023-24 (22% and 17% Scotland, 31% and 26% UK). This means that the proportion of children in Scotland living in relative poverty in 2023-24 is now lower than it has been since 2014-15, while the proportion in absolute poverty has also fallen with the annual figure the lowest in 30 years.

We have introduced a broad range of policies to address child poverty and published guidance on our six priority families concept to tackling child poverty in June 2025, which identifies the family groups at greatest risk of child poverty. The Scottish Child Payment (SCP) was increased from £26.70 to £27.15 in April 2025, in line with inflation, compared to initial payments of £10 per week made to eligible families in February 2021. The SCP is forecast to benefit around 330,000 children in 2025-26. We estimate that it will keep 40,000 children out of relative poverty in 2025-26, with levels of relative child poverty four percentage points lower than they would have otherwise been, according to the most recent modelling published in March 2025. Together, the five family payments (SCP, Best Start Foods and the three Best Start Grant payments) could be worth over £10,000 by the time an eligible child turns six and around £25,000 by the time an eligible child turns 16. We are also developing the systems needed to effectively scrap the impact of the two child cap, with the new payment opening for applications from 2 March 2026.

Key Actions

In June 2025 we welcomed a report from the minimum income guarantee expert group setting out a roadmap towards a potential minimum income guarantee in Scotland by 2036. We are considering the recommendations and the research that was published alongside and will respond in due course.

We are investing over £3 billion in 2025-26 to continue to drive forward progress on child poverty and to tackle the cost of living crisis facing households. On average, households with children in the poorest 10% are estimated to be £2,600 a year better off in 2025-26 as a result of our policies. This value is projected to grow to an average of £3,700 a year by 2029-30.

We will publish a third tackling child poverty delivery plan for 2026-31 by the end of March 2026. This will outline actions to drive further progress toward the 2030 targets set out in the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 while responding immediately to the challenges faced. In February 2025, an external reference group was created to oversee the development of the plan, and will continue until March 2026.

We are investing £37 million in 2025-26 to deliver the expansion of free school meals programme to those in receipt of SCP in primaries 6 and 7 providing healthy and nutritious meals to around a further 25,000 children and saving those who take up the offer around £450 a year per child.

We are investing an estimated £28.3 million through our Winter Heating Payment in 2025-26. Providing a reliable annual payment of £59.75 to people on low incomes to help with their heating expenses every winter.

We are providing targeted support to families with a disabled person through measures such as the Child Winter Heating Payment. Families of almost 45,000 disabled children and young people are set to receive winter heating support worth £255.80 in 2025-26.

Concluding Observation: 45c

The Committee urges the State Party, along with the devolved governments […] To allocate sufficient resources to the children’s social care system across all jurisdictions with a view to supporting low-income families, to prevent the separation of children from their family environment and their institutionalization or placement in alternative care and, in coordination with anti-poverty strategies and social security policies [...].

Context

In 2016 we commissioned an independent care review to look at Scotland’s care system. This concluded in 2020, and the outcome was The Promise, which was published the same year. The Promise includes over 80 calls to action that will improve the lives of care experienced children and young people across Scotland. We published The Promise implementation plan in 2022 setting out the actions that we will take to deliver the recommendations by 2030. At the heart of The Promise is the commitment to a Scotland where care experienced children and young people can all grow up loved, safe and respected.

The Promise highlighted that the outcomes of children and young people who have experience of care throughout childhood are generally less positive than those who face adverse outcomes across the wider population. This includes outcomes relating to education, justice and health. Evidence has shown a correlation between poor outcomes, and living in areas of deprivation or experiencing poverty. For families who experience poverty, various social and economic factors can make it harder for parents to care for children, and mean they are more likely than others to be involved in the care system.

In September 2024, we published an update to The Promise implementation plan which provides a review of the actions which have been undertaken. This includes an 18.1% reduction in the number of looked after children between 2020 and 2024; the introduction of a Scottish recommended allowance for kinship and foster carers; the introduction of the Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Act 2024 which has ended the detainment of 16 and 17 year olds in young offenders’ institutions in Scotland, moving them to secure care units; and a full-scale independent review of the Children’s Hearing system analysis was published February 2025.

Key Actions

We introduced the Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill to parliament on 17 June 2025 at Stage 1 which will be completed by 16 January 2026. The scope of the bill is presently being determined, and it will include changes in relation to the Children’s Hearing System and fostering and support for young people transitioning out of the children’s care system.

As part of our whole family wellbeing funding investment approach we committed to extending the whole family wellbeing funding for children’s services planning partnerships in 2026–27. In addition, we have increased funding from £32 million to £38.1 million in 2025-26 and 2026-27. This investment, and associated activity, supports both our commitment to keep The Promise, and tackle child poverty by transforming holistic family support in local communities to ensure families can get the help they need, where and when they need it.

We will invest £10 million per year through our care experience grant which will provide a £200 annual grant for 16-25 year olds with care experience. This grant will provide some additional financial security for young people with experience of care and will help reduce some of the financial barriers that young people face in transitions to adulthood and more independent living. The grant will support families with care experience by contributing to the maximising of incomes, a key driver of child poverty reduction.

We are providing £30 million in 2025-26 to increase the pay of those providing direct care to vulnerable children and young people, namely for residential childcare services for looked after children, support services for disabled children, and housing support services for disabled or care experienced young people transitioning to independent living. Since April 2024 we have invested a total of £50 million.

Concluding Observation: 45d

The Committee urges the State Party, along with the devolved governments […] To step up measures to ensure that everyone has access to affordable electricity, gas, water, sanitation, heating and clothing.

Context

Our vision is for everyone to have a warm, safe home that they can afford and that meets their needs in a place where they want to live. We recognise that weather, poor energy efficiency in the home and reduced heating options, especially in rural areas, as well as high energy prices can make fuel bills unaffordable, resulting in fuel poverty.

In 2019, we introduced the Fuel Poverty (Targets, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Act 2019. This landmark piece of legislation remains the most ambitious and comprehensive fuel poverty legislation in the UK. Our 2021 fuel poverty strategy sets out the actions we are taking to tackle the four main drivers of fuel poverty. Progress towards meeting our fuel poverty targets is monitored by the statutory Scottish fuel poverty advisory panel

We provided a £41 million package to support individuals struggling with increased energy costs in winter 2024-25. This funding included an additional £20 million allocated to the Scottish Welfare Fund (SWF), a further £20 million for the warmer homes Scotland scheme, and £1 million in grant funding made available to registered social landlords to facilitate initiatives that help sustain tenancies. Additionally, the homeowners support fund offers aid to those at the lower end of the Scottish housing market who are experiencing difficulties in managing loan payments secured against their homes and are at risk of repossession.

Key Actions

From November 2025 onwards, all pensioners in Scotland will generally receive £203.40 or £305.10 per household, depending on age, through our Pension Age Winter Heating Payment. This is a higher rate of payment than the £200 or £300 provided by the UK Government. Unlike the UK Government’s Cold Weather Payment, Scotland’s Winter Heating Payment is guaranteed annually for eligible households, regardless of temperature. Payments will be recovered from those pensioners with a taxable income above £35,000.

In total, we will provide an estimated £28.3 million through our Winter Heating Payment and £11.4 million through our Child Winter Heating Payment. The Child Winter Heating Payment, unique to Scotland, supports households with severely disabled children and young people with household winter heating costs.

We are providing £14.2 million to local authorities to enable them to pay school clothing grants to eligible families. These payments assist families with the cost of buying school clothing and shoes. At least £120 is provided each year for every eligible child of primary school age and £150 for every eligible young person of secondary school age.

We are investing £41 million in the SWF in 2025-26. Since the scheme started in 2013, £493.1 million has been spent. Official statistics show that awards tend to go to applicants living in the more deprived areas of Scotland. The majority of crisis grant awards were for food, heating costs and other living expenses.

In 2025-26 we have allocated £16.9 million for the provision of free income maximisation support, welfare and debt advice. This vital support ensures that Scottish households are supported to claim all that they are entitled to, challenge decisions affecting their payments, maximise their household incomes and ensure that those facing problem debt are able to access the support they need.

We continue to call on the UK Government to remove the SWF from the list of public funds for immigration purposes to allow vulnerable groups that would benefit from the fund to be able to access this short-term support in a crisis, such as those with NRPF.

For further actions see:

Equality Concluding Observations: 31a to 31c

Social Security Concluding Observations: 41a to 41d

Food Concluding Observations: 49a to 49e

Sexual and reproductive Health Concluding Observations: 53a to 53c