Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan: progress report 2024-25

Ministerial Foreword – Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice

Eradicating child poverty is the Scottish Government’s top priority and we are committed to doing all we can improve the lives and outcomes of children and their families. We know that our policies are making a real difference, and this report demonstrates how we are continuing to strengthen our approach. We also know that meeting the 2030 targets set will be a challenge, however by working together with our partners across Scotland we can realise the change needed.

In the past year, despite levels of inflation falling, low income families have continued to be impacted by the legacy of the cost of living crisis – placing increased pressure on their ability to afford essentials including fuel and energy. The Scottish Government also faced some of the most challenging fiscal circumstances in the history of devolution, following the outgoing Chancellor’s decision to deliver unfunded tax cuts at the expense of public services and the needs of struggling households. The failure of the UK Government to inflation-proof its capital budget also had damaging impacts on critical investment, including in the delivery of more affordable homes.

Despite the considerable challenge faced, we have continued to prioritise action to tackle child poverty across 2024-25. Investing more than £1.4 billion in support benefitting children in low income families, we have continued to deliver our lifeline five family payments – with our Scottish Child Payment worth £26.70 per week per child last year – and strengthened support through the expansion of our ambitious Fairer Future Partnerships, Council Tax Debt advice pilot project and through delivery of a second round of our Child Poverty Practice Accelerator Fund. We also responded to the emerging needs of families, delivering £2.8 million of funding to cancel historic school meal debt and a £41 million package of measures to support households struggling with energy costs over the winter period. As set out in this report, 68 of the 113 actions reported on this year were either completed or delivering at scale – an increase from 60 as of March 2024.

While it is deeply disappointing that this report confirms that the interim targets, set by the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017, were not met in 2023-24, we have seen positive progress. Data confirms that year on year, levels of relative poverty fell in 2023-24 to the lowest levels seen in almost a decade, while levels of absolute poverty also fell to the lowest level in 30 years. There is wide ranging evidence that the action we are taking in Scotland is making a difference, with the lowest income families an estimated £2,600 better off in 2025-26 as a result of our policies.

In the final year of ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’, and of this Parliament, we will continue to drive forward progress toward the 2030 targets and take steps to improve the lives and outcomes of families. This includes further expanding provision of Free School Meals to around 25,000 more children and young people, creating more free breakfast club places through our Bright Start Breakfasts Fund, and enabling the delivery of more than 8,000 homes through investment in our Affordable Housing Supply Programme. And, because the UK Government has so far failed to act, we will continue to work at pace to effectively mitigate the two-child limit by April 2026.

Alongside this focus on delivery, we will also continue to engage with partners across Scotland to inform development of ambitious proposals for the next Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan. Covering 2026-31, this will be the final plan ahead of the 2030 targets and will be taken forward by the Scottish Government formed after the next Holyrood elections. That is why, building on our call for evidence which issued in February 2025 and informed by our review of international evidence published alongside this report, we will work with a wide range of partners to establish consensus on the change needed and the practical steps that can be taken to make change possible. Our work with the National Advisory Council for Women and Girls has also reinforced the need to consistently emphasise the importance of calling out the deeply gendered nature of poverty – and to take action to tackle inequalities faced by women and girls in our society.

Whilst the UK Government’s focus on child poverty, including establishment of the Child Poverty Taskforce, and early actions including the Fair Repayment Rate in Universal Credit and Employment Rights Bill are welcome, they have so far failed to meet the scale of the challenge faced. Experts, including at the Resolution Foundation and Joseph Rowntree Foundation, warn that without significant action the UK Government risk presiding over rising child poverty in the period to 2030 – with the number of children living in poverty across the UK already rising to the highest on record in 2023-24, and the two-child limit pulling an estimated 109 children into poverty every day.

As of the date this report is published, the two-child limit remains UK Government policy – despite irrefutable evidence that scrapping the cap is the most cost-effective way to tackle child poverty. This inaction, coupled with the announced changes to disability benefits which threaten to push a further 50,000 children into poverty, risks undermining further progress in Scotland.

I continue to urge the UK Government to make full use of the levers available to them, to reverse harmful welfare cuts, and to work with this government to deliver the change we know is possible. As modelling from the London School of Economics has shown, were the UK Government to match the scale of our action and investment, they could lift 700,000 children out of poverty across the UK overnight.

However, irrespective of the actions of the UK Government, we will continue to do everything within the scope of our powers and budget to deliver the change needed and to continue driving progress toward the 2030 targets unanimously agreed by the Scottish Parliament. We are unequivocally committed to building on the progress made to date as outlined in this report, accelerating progress toward the final targets, and banishing the scourge of poverty from Scotland.

Shirley-Anne Somerville

Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice