Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan: Progress Report 2025-26

Section 4: Additional information

Introduction

The following section provides additional information in relation to action and investment in 2025-26 and over the life of ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’.

Table 4.1 provides an ‘at a glance’ overview of the status of each action reported on this year and how each action is expected to tackle child poverty.

Table 4.2 sets out a short progress update for actions which have not been reported against in each of the nine thematic areas in the first section of this report.

Table 4.3 sets out what has been spent from the Tackling Child Poverty Fund.

Table 4.4 sets out how funding previously committed to the Two Child Limit Payment was reinvested in 2025-26.

Tables 4.5a-d sets out an estimate of our investment directed at low income households and spend to support children in poverty in 2025-26 and across the life of ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’.

The final part of this section details:

• the requirements of the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017, and how we have addressed each within this report.
• our response to comments and recommendations made by the Poverty and Inequality Commission within their 2025-26 scrutiny report.

Overview of progress

The following table provides the status of all actions in ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’ as of 31 March 2026. The table also summarises how actions tackle child poverty.

Of the 120 actions reported on this year, 98 are complete or delivering at scale, in line with commitments made in ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’. In light of the challenging fiscal environment and external factors, a further six commitments are being delivered on a revised basis. Of remaining actions, seven are in progress, and reflect areas of significant ongoing work linked to long-term ambitions such as ending homelessness.

A total of seven actions have been aligned with other commitments and will be delivered through them, while work on the Youth Work Strategy continues to be paused. The Two Child Limit Payment was no longer required following the UK Government’s decision to abolish the two-child limit at source.

Table 4.1 - Summary of action status

Expected outcome key:

EMP Increasing income from employment – relevant to all four targets

HC Reducing housing costs – relevant to all four targets

OC Reducing other costs of living – relevant to the low income and material deprivation target

SS Increasing income from social security and benefits in kind – relevant to all four targets

LC Improving children’s life chances in ways that are not about increasing current income or reducing costs of living but potentially relevant to future child poverty levels, when these children become parents themselves

Status key:

DEL Being delivered at scale / completed

DRE Revised commitment being delivered at scale / completed

IP In progress

ES Early stages of development

PA Paused

AL Aligned with other action

NR No longer required

Table 4.1: Summary of action status

Action	Expected outcome	Status
Commence work in local pathfinder areas	EMP, SS, OC, HC, LC	DEL
Act on findings of Rural and Islands Child Poverty Research	EMP, SS, OC, HC, LC	DEL
Social Innovation Partnership – Flourishing Lives	EMP, SS, OC, HC, LC	DEL
Child Poverty Practice Accelerator Fund	EMP, SS, OC, HC, LC	DEL
Establish a SAVVI team in Scotland [New]	EMP, SS, OC, HC, LC	DEL
Increase scale of employment support	EMP	DRE
Test and Learn Pilot for lone parents	EMP, LC, SS, OC, HC	DEL
Challenge Fund	EMP	AL
Parental Transition Fund	EMP	AL
Increasing awareness and uptake of employment support	EMP	DEL
Lifetime Skills Offer	EMP	AL
Adult upskilling and reskilling offer	EMP	AL
Reform of post-school education	EMP, LC	IP
Publish an Adult Learning Strategy for Scotland	EMP	DEL
NHS Demonstrator Project and apprenticeship opportunities	EMP	DEL
NHS Anchors	EMP	DEL
Just Transition Fund	LC, OC	DEL
Strategic plan for childcare	EMP, OC, LC	DEL
Further develop funded early learning childcare for children aged one and two	EMP, OC, LC	DRE
Maximise uptake of existing funded early learning childcare for eligible two year olds	EMP, OC, LC	IP
Build a system of school age childcare	EMP, OC, LC	DRE
Summer 2022 holiday programme	EMP, OC, LC	DEL
Eligibility review for funded childcare	EMP, OC	DEL
Bright Start Breakfasts	EMP, OC, LC	DEL
Deliver concessionary fares for eligible groups	EMP, OC, LC	DEL
Fair Fares Review	EMP, OC, LC	DEL
Next generation of digital travel systems	EMP, OC, LC	DEL
Community Bus Fund	EMP, OC, LC	DEL
Review of Demand Responsive Transport	EMP, OC, LC	DEL
Extend free bus travel to asylum seekers	OC	DEL
Scrapping ScotRail peak fares [New]	OC	DEL
Bus cap fare pilot [New]	OC	DEL
Connecting Scotland	EMP, HC, OC, SS, LC	DRE
Shared vision for tackling child poverty in partnership with business and employers	EMP	DEL
Refreshed Fair Work Action Plan	EMP	DEL
Workplace Equality Fund	EMP	DEL
Women Returners Programme	EMP	DEL
Public sector grant recipients to pay at least the real Living Wage to all employees	EMP	DEL
Community Wealth Building	EMP	DEL
£12 per hour pay commitment for childcare workers	EMP	DEL
Build child poverty into major Scottish Government events	LC	DEL
Public Sector Pay Policy	EMP	DEL
Supported Business	EMP	DEL
Expand the number of employers paying at least the real Living Wage and offering Living Hours	EMP	DEL
Whole Family Wellbeing Funding	EMP, OC, LC, SS, HC	DRE
Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill	LC	DEL
Implement Bairns’ Hoose Model	LC	IP
CashBack for Communities	LC	DEL
Strengthen immediate protections for the victims of abuse	LC	IP
Prison Visitor Centres	LC, HC	DEL
Getting it Right For Everyone (GIRFE)	LC	DEL
Family focused services for people with alcohol and drug problems	LC	DEL
Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults	LC, EMP	DEL
Community mental health resilience and social prescribing	LC	AL
Inclusion Health Action in General Practice	LC	DEL
Fairer Funding Programme	LC	DEL
Third Sector Fund	LC, OC, HC, SS	DEL
STV Children's Appeal	EMP, HC, OC, SS, LC	DEL
Family Fund	LC, OC, SS	DEL
Equality and Human Rights Fund	LC	DEL
Place Based Investment Programme	EMP	DEL
Empowering Communities Programme	EMP	DEL
Increase 8 social security payments by 6%	SS	DEL
Scottish Child Payment	SS	DEL
Bridging Payments	SS	DEL
Develop the systems to mitigate the two-child limit	SS	NR
Remove income thresholds from Best Start Foods	SS	DEL
Explore systems of automated payment for Social Security benefits	SS	IP
Carer Support Payment	SS	DEL
Extra payment for carer’s of more than one disabled person	SS	DEL
Raising earnings threshold for Carer Support Payment	SS	DEL
Scotland’s Child Disability Payment case transfer	SS	DEL
Adult Disability Payment (ADP)	SS	DEL
Winter Heating Payment	SS	DEL
National guidance on school uniforms	HC	DEL
Further expand Free School Meal provision	HC, SS	DEL
Fund to assist in removing the impact of school meal debt on families	HC, SS	DEL
Publish Scottish guidance for Discretionary Housing Payment	HC	DEL
Independent review of the Scottish Welfare Fund	SS	DEL
Mitigate the Benefit Cap as fully as possible	SS	DEL
£150 Cost of Living Payment	SS	DEL
Benefit take-up strategy	SS	DEL
Social Security Advocacy Service	SS	DEL
Expand the Family Nurse Partnership	LC, HC, OC	DEL
Enhance financial advice from Health Visitors	LC, HC, OC	DEL
Welfare Advice and Health Partnerships	LC, HC, OC	DEL
Free debt and income maximisation advice	SS, OC, HC	DEL
Strategic approach to communications – income maximisation	LC, HC, OC, SS, EMP	DEL
Plan towards ending the need for food banks	SS	DEL
Affordable Housing Supply Programme	HC, LC	DEL
Rural and Islands Housing Action Plan	HC	DEL
Private rented housing sector reforms	HC	IP
Gypsy/Traveller accommodation	HC	DEL
Double investment in the Home Energy Scotland Loans and Grants scheme in 2022-23	HC	DEL
Fuel Insecurity Fund	HC, SS	DEL
Successor to Warmer Homes Scotland	HC	DEL
Ending Homelessness Together	HC, LC	IP
Scale up Housing First	HC, LC	DEL
Fund to Leave [New]	HC, LC	DEL
Housing (Scotland) Bill [New]	HC	DEL
Play Park renewal	LC	DEL
Refreshed GIRFEC resources	LC	DEL
The Promise Partnership Fund	LC	DEL
Scottish Attainment Challenge	EMP, LC	DEL
Removal of charges for core curriculum subjects	OC, LC	DEL
Improve digital access for school age children	LC, SS	AL
Scottish Mentoring and Leadership Programme	EMP, LC	DEL
Consider models to provide free bikes for children whose parent/guardian cannot afford them	OC, LC	DEL
Free Bikes Partnership Fund	OC, LC	DEL
Investment in sport, active living, and Active Schools programmes	LC	DRE
Youth Work Strategy	EMP, LC	PA
School Leavers’ Toolkit	LC	DEL
Tackling the digital divide in further and higher education	EMP, LC	DEL
Enhance the total student support package	EMP, LC	DEL
Young Person’s Guarantee	EMP, LC	DEL
Care Leaver Payment (Care Experience Grant)	SS	DEL
Legislate to exempt under 22s from Council Tax	HC, LC	AL
Expansion of tutoring programme [New]	OC, LC	DEL
Short breaks [New]	OC	DEL
£10 million emergency support for families [New]	EMP, HC, LC, OC	DEL

Updates on other actions

The following table provides summary updates on actions committed within ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’ which are not included within section 2 of this report.

Table 4.2: Progress on other actions

Action:

Just Transition Fund

Activity:

In 2025-26, we have invested £15.9 million in the Just Transition Fund which has safeguarded and created jobs in some of the most deprived areas of the North East. This includes £8.5 million to facilitate a new bidding round and £7.4 million to complete existing projects supporting businesses, workers and communities

The Just Transition Participatory Budgeting Fund, which forms part of existing investment, enables communities to have a direct say on where money is spent. The Participatory Budget programme has supported 37 community projects, including supporting households with fuel bills and providing a community van to deliver assistance and provide free transport to local residents.

Action:

Supported business

Activity:

We have continued work to increase the use of our supported businesses Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) by public bodies and expand the number of supported businesses listed. This has continued to ensure Scottish public bodies and third-sector organisations have a clear and efficient route to market for a range of goods and services which are reserved for and provided by supported businesses. We are continuing to work with supported businesses across Scotland, helping them access and win public contracts through reserved contracts and calls for competition via the DPS.

Action:

Connecting Scotland

Activity:

Continuing our work to reduce digital exclusion, in July 2025 we published the Phase Two report exploring a Minimum Digital Living Standard for Scotland. This builds upon the interim report, drawing on stakeholder surveys and in-depth family interviews, with research focussed on the needs of households with children in particular.

We also launched two new funds in October 2025, providing around £1.4 million to support a range of digital inclusion interventions across Scotland. Worth £442,327, the Connecting Scotland Digital Inclusion Fund is supporting 15 local projects, with activity underway as of March 2026 across a range of communities. Meanwhile, the Civtech Challenge 11.9 is working to identify innovative approaches to support people to access key online services, backed by investment of up to £1 million. Both funded projects are focussed on reaching low income households and priority groups, supporting individuals and communities to access digital devices, connectivity and support.

Action:

Build child poverty into major Scottish Government events

Activity:

Through Scotland's National Events Strategy we are continuing to work with delivery partners to ensure that processes are in place to assess the potential to support our work to tackle child poverty. Beyond the positive economic impacts of directly investing in major events, we are also focussed on impact and legacy activities which can continue to support wider community engagement across Scotland.

We have built Fair Work First principles into all the Scottish Government major events contracts for funded events over this reporting period and beyond. This includes the upcoming the Tour de France Grand Depart 2027 and UEFA EURO 2028.

Action:

Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill

Activity:

Part 1 of the Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill came into effect in May 2025, seeking to ensure that in as far as possible, the use of remand is focused on those that pose the greatest risk to safety. We are continuing work in relation to the staged implementation of Part 2, which will seek to improve release planning process and support available to people leaving prison.

Action:

Barnahaus model

Activity:

The Bairns’ Hoose programme continues to make significant progress towards incremental roll‑out from 2027, supported by £10.5 million in investment in 2025-26. Now in its final Pathfinder year, partnerships are steadily testing and refining the model, ensuring children can access safe, trauma‑informed, multi‑agency support within a single setting. Children and young peoples lived experience continues to influence programme development, ensuring the model remains rights‑based and responsive to what matters most to them.

Nineteen partnerships are at various stages of development and implementation. Seven Hooses are now providing services in Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Argyll and Bute, Highland, North Strathclyde, Tayside, Edinburgh East and Midlothian. Additional sites are also in active development throughout Scotland.

Emerging evidence from the Pathfinder Phase indicates that the Bairns’ Hoose model is already strengthening multi-agency coordination and improving children’s experiences of protection, recovery and justice processes, with partners reporting clearer recovery pathways and more consistent trauma-informed practice.

Action:

CashBack for Communities

Activity:

Phase Six of the CashBack for Communities Programme concluded on 31st March 2026. Running since April 2023, up to £20 million was committed with delivery supported by 29 grant funded partners.

The Annual Impact Report for 2024–25, published in September 2025, highlighted that more than 15,000 young people were supported by the programme during the year, with support targeted at those aged 10-25 living in communities in the bottom 20% of SIMD. The Annual Impact Report for 2025–26, alongside a full evaluation of Phase Six, is due to be published in autumn 2026.

Action:

Strengthen immediate protections for the victims of abuse

Activity:

The Scottish Government is continuing to work with stakeholders to consider how Part 1 of the Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Act 2021 can be implemented. A short life working group was established in September 2025 comprising of justice agencies and victims organisations that will be key to the operation of the scheme.

Part 2 of the 2021 Act will provide additional powers to social landlords to apply to the court to end the tenancy rights of those who have been abusive to their partner or ex-partner. The Regulations required to commence Part 2 of the 2021 Act were approved by the Scottish Parliament and will come into force from 1 August 2026 – giving social landlords greater control to transfer a tenancy to a victim-survivor.

Action:

Prison Visitor Centres

Activity:

In 2025-26 we invested over £800,000 in Prison Visitor Centre (PVC) services at 14 custodial establishments across Scotland, delivered by third sector organisations. This funding has enabled continued provision of a range of direct supports, including advice and referral to wider agencies and services to families many of whom come from harder to reach groups and are directly impacted by multiple disadvantages including poverty.

An independent review of PVC services is underway which aims to evaluate the nature of support provided in order to learn from current practice and consider options for future development, with a report anticipated in summer 2026.

Action:

Third Sector Fund 

Activity:

Through our Children, Young People, Families Early Intervention (CYPFEI) and Adult Learning and Empowering Communities (ALEC) and Children, Young People, Families and Adult Learners (CYPFAL) third sector funds we provided around £18 million of core funding to 136 third sector organisations supporting children, young people and families in 2025-26. As of March 2025, these organisations reported that they were directly supporting over one million people annually.

Action:

STV Children's Appeal

Activity:

In 2025-26 the Scottish Government awarded £1 million to the STV Children’s Appeal, supporting delivery of frontline support for children, families and young people and using the reach of STV to raise awareness of the impact of child poverty. This is enabling support to third sector and grassroots organisations across all 32 Local Authority areas. In 2025, a total of 361 awards had been made, with 311 of these to small charities and community-led groups across Scotland, supporting over 58,000 people, a further 11 focused on prevention, learning and sustainability supporting over 9,000 children and young people, and 15 awards to Magic Breakfast providing over 1,800 children and young people with a nutritious breakfast.

Action:

Family Fund

Activity:

We awarded over £3.2 million to the Family Fund in 2025-26, supporting their work to provide small grants to families on a low income in Scotland who are raising disabled or seriously ill children under the age of 18 and provide wider support. This included an additional £350,000 through the Tackling Child Poverty Fund to strengthen the support available.

Investment enabled over 6,400 families to receive a grant for items they would not have otherwise been able to afford, including essentials such as kitchen appliances, furniture and furnishings, clothing, family breaks, home technology, sensory and play equipment. This includes an additional 1,004 grants awarded as a result of additional child poverty funding.

As part of the total funding provided, the Family Fund also delivered 20 digital income booster workshops, supporting almost 200 participants to access online benefits and increase online skills for their families.

Action:

Equality and Human Rights Fund

Activity:

The Equality and Human Rights Fund is continuing to support a range of civil society organisations that deliver work focused on tackling inequality and discrimination, furthering equality, and advancing the realisation of human rights in Scotland. In 2025-26 the Fund distributed a further £8.3 million in funding to organisations addressing gender, disability and race equality.

Action:

Place Based Investment Programme (PBIP)

Activity:

Over £40 million was invested through regeneration capital investment programmes to support the delivery of projects in 2025-26. Of this, £18 million of Place Based Investment Programme funding was allocated directly to all 32 Local Authorities to support community regeneration and improve public spaces. This in addition to over £13 million in funding to support the delivery of new projects through the Regeneration Capital Grant Fund, which are expected to create around 170 new jobs and more than 560 training places. £3.5 million was also provided to Clyde Gateway Urban Regeneration Company to support the delivery of the 20-year delivery plan to regenerate the east end of Glasgow. Funding has supported regeneration projects including supporting community asset ownership and creating or enhancing community facilities which provide a range of opportunities including provision of community-led services.

Action:

Empowering Communities Programme

Activity:

Delivery of the Empowering Communities Programme continued in 2025-26, including over £9 million of support through our Investing in Communities Fund. Information from monitoring reports show that in the first 6 months of 2025-26 over 150,000 people participated or benefitted from the projects being delivered, with projects supporting over 4,345 volunteers delivering over 302,053 volunteering hours. Additionally, 678 people have been supported into employment and 2,336 supported into other positive destinations including higher education through funded projects.

Action:

Play Park renewal

Activity:

The Scottish Government invested a total of £25 million in play park renewal in 2025-26, an increase from £20 million the previous year, with 688 play parks renewed or in the process of renewal as a result.

From the total funding of £60 million invested since 2021, 1,960 playparks have been renewed. This means that almost all of the 1,985 parks initially identified as in need of immediate or medium-term renewal have been renewed, supporting children to access high-quality outdoor play in their communities.

Action:

Refreshed GIRFEC resources

Activity:

We are continuing to embed GIRFEC as a rights-based, holistic and multi-agency approach to understanding a child and family’s needs and ensuring coordinated delivery of support can improve their wellbeing. Over 6,800 professionals have completed NHS National Education for Scotland GIRFEC e-learning modules since December 2024, providing a nationally consistent set of professional learning materials to better support the knowledge and skills of the workforce in GIRFEC implementation across public agencies.

Action:

Scottish Attainment Challenge

Activity:

In 2025-26, over £185 million was invested in the Scottish Attainment Challenge, with funding provided to schools, Local Authorities and third sector organisation with the aim of improving educational outcomes for children and young people affected by poverty. Statistics published in December 2025 show improvements in attendance, attainment, behaviour and curriculum in our schools. Attainment levels are at a record high in literacy and numeracy, with the poverty-related attainment gaps in literacy and numeracy at record lows in primary and secondary schools, following investment of £1.75 billion in the Scottish Attainment Challenge over the past decade.

Summative evaluation of the Attainment Scotland Fund Evaluation Strategy across 2022-26 was published in March 2026, informing future decision making around funding and approaches to address poverty and improve education. National operational guidance for Pupil Equity Funding, Strategic Equity Funding and Care Experienced Children and Young People Funding, was also published in March to help Local Authorities and schools plan how to use their funding effectively.

Action:

Removal of charges for core curriculum subjects

Activity:

We have provided a total of £8 million to Local Authorities and grant aided schools to cover the removal of core curriculum charges for the 2025-26 financial year, with a further £8 million committed in the 2026-27 budget. This means that families do not have to meet the costs of resources and materials for practical lessons, removing cost as a factor when pupils are making choices about their education.

Action:

Improve digital access for school age children

Activity:

This has been aligned with the development of a more strategic approach to all aspects of technology in schools over the life of this Delivery Plan.

Action:

Investment in sport, active living, and Active Schools programmes

Activity:

In 2024-25, there were 5 million visits to free Active School activities by 279,000 pupils, an increase of 17,000 pupils from the previous year. In autumn 2025 an evaluation of the Active Schools programme was published, showing that this is contributing significantly to education and learning outcomes, including supporting attendance and engagement at school.

Action:

Youth Work Strategy

Activity:

Following the independent review of Community Learning and Development (CLD) published in July 2024, the CLD Strategic Leadership Group was established to set out and deliver a clear, learner-centred vision for providing the best outcomes for Scotland’s communities and the people in them. The group, co-chaired by the Scottish Government and COSLA, has met four times across the reporting year. During this period, they have worked to develop an approach to delivering priorities and published the CLD outcomes 2025-2028 which sets a clear direction of travel for meaningful change, including for youth work.

Action:

Enhance the total student support package

Activity:

Through our Higher Education student support package, this year we have continued to provide £11,400 for our most vulnerable students, including those who are from the lowest household income, estranged and care experienced.

Action:

Emergency support for families [NEW]

Activity:

In January 2025, it was announced that £10 million in funding originally earmarked to support the two-child limit mitigation payment in Scotland would be reinvested in wider efforts to tackle child poverty. The majority of the funding was allocated between charities and government programmes that provide emergency financial support, including additional £550,000 for Aberlour Children’s Charity’s Urgent Assistance Fund, £1.5 million for Children First to provide extra emergency support to families in crisis and £1.5 million for the Corra Foundation to distribute additional emergency funds via local organisations.

This funding has supported families and households, helping to cover the cost of essentials and deal with emergencies. Aberlour’s Urgent Assistance Fund supported over 1,000 families across Scotland, with awards averaging around £478 per family. Children First provided £1.3 million in direct financial support to around 4,000 families. Investment also supported additional capacity within the Children First helpline, providing wider wrap-around support for families in need. Corra Foundation’s Household Hardship Fund provided funding to 184 organisations, supporting households and families on low incomes to access food and other essentials.

A full breakdown of funding allocation is held at Table 4.4.

Action:

Scalable Approach to Vulnerability via Interoperability) (SAVVI) [New]

Activity:

Through the Tackling Child Poverty Fund, £256,000 was allocated in 2025-26 to allow the Improvement Service to host a SAVVI (Scalable Approach to Vulnerability via Interoperability) team in Scotland. This is supporting efforts to create a standardised and transparent data-sharing landscape that facilitates the legal, ethical and proportionate sharing of data – allowing Local Authorities to identify vulnerable households and support action to tackle child poverty.

The specialist team was successfully established, consisting of an information governance expert, a technical/data standards expert and a SAVVI coach to lead multi-disciplinary teams through the process.

In 2025-26, the team supported several Local Authorities to explore potential data share approaches to support benefit uptake, and produced a financial hardship blueprint tailored to Scotland to support local partners with future data share requests.

Action:

Expansion of tutoring programme [New]

Activity:

In 2025-26, £91,000 was awarded from the Tackling Child Poverty Fund to pilot an extended tutoring provision to more senior phase pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds in the East and West of Scotland.

The tutoring programmes are focused on helping young people to maximise their potential and potential to participate in higher education by leveraging in the resources and expertise of wider partners, including universities.

Investment in the 2025-26 pilot has enabled additional pupils to be reached in 10 schools across six Local Authority areas.

Action:

Short breaks [New]

Activity:

In 2025-26, the Tackling Child Poverty Fund awarded an additional £1.135 million to Family Fund to expand delivery of the Scottish Government funded Take a Break Scotland programme.

The additional funding was distributed to 3,179 unpaid carers, supporting 4,254 disabled or seriously ill children under 18 across all Local Authority areas. This allowed carers to access breaks, items, activities and day trips which would have otherwise been challenging to afford or to prioritise, enabling unpaid carers and their families to enjoy a meaningful break to maintain their health and wellbeing.

Investment through the Tackling Child Poverty Fund

The following table sets out investment from the Tackling Child Poverty Fund over the life of ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’. As shown below, spend has exceeded the commitment to invest £50 million over the life of the plan (2022-26).

In the past year we have invested in a range of new and strengthened action focused on tackling child poverty in its broadest sense – from increasing the availability of childcare for families, to supporting the effective use of data by public services through the SAVVI initiative and enabling more carers to take short breaks with their families. This is in addition to our continued investment in programmes supported in 2024-25, including support for mutual mentoring through the Wise Group and increased investment for Child Poverty Practice Accelerator Projects.

Table 4.3 outlines recorded and provisional levels of investment, correct at the point of publication. All totals expressed are £0.000m. Spend for previous years has been updated with final or revised outturn figures where these are available.

Table 4.3: Summary of Tackling Child Poverty Fund investment

Programme	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25	2025-26	Total
Doubling the Winter 2022 Scottish Child Payment Bridging Payment	18.991	0	0	0	18.991
Emergency food insecurity funding to respond to the cost of living crisis	1.775	0	0	0	1.775
Social Innovation Partnership	2.600	2.200	1.800	1.500	8.100
Fairer Future Partnerships, including evaluation*	0.699	0.693	1.500	2.200	5.092
Low income family targeted strategic communications	0.653	0.442	0.369	0.842	2.306
Enhancing local tackling child poverty action	0.107	0.263	0.321	0.356	1.047
Programme Delivery Costs	1.532	0.950	0.029	0.117	2.628
Child Poverty Practice Accelerator Fund	0	0.220	0.569	0.727	1.516
Wise Group	0	0	0.765	2.185	2.950
Increase to the Scottish Welfare Fund*	0	0	2.725	0	2.725
SAVVI	0	0	0	0.256	0.256
Holiday services for children with a disability	0	0	0	1.000	1.000
Extra Time (increase)	0	0	0	1.500	1.500
Family Fund (increase)	0	0	0	0.350	0.350
Living Hours accreditation boost	0	0	0	0.047	0.047
Scotland’s learning partnership workshops	0	0	0	0.150	0.150
Expansion of tutoring programmes	0	0	0	0.091	0.091
Fund to Leave*	0	0	0	0.600	0.600
Discretionary Housing Payments – move from Private Rented Sector*	0	0	0	1.000	1.000
Short breaks for carers	0	0	0	1.135	1.135
Total	26.357	4.768	8.078	14.056	53.259

* Contribution toward total investment

Reinvestment of Two Child Limit Payment funding

The following table sets out how funding originally earmarked in 2025-26 to support the two-child limit mitigation payment in Scotland was invested in tackling child poverty. On 8 January 2026, the First Minister announced that £9 million would be made available to charities and government programmes that provide emergency financial support, and a further £1 million would support wider measures. Figures below reflect outturn spend against this commitment.

Detail on how funding in 2026-27 has been allocated can be found in Annex 1 of the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan for 2026-31.

The table below outlines recorded and provisional levels of investment, correct at the point of publication. All totals expressed are £0.000m:

Table 4.4: Reinvestment of Two Child Limit Payment funding in 2025-26

Programme	(£m)
Scottish Welfare Fund boost	5.465
Children First – support for families	1.500
Corra Foundation – Household Hardship Fund	1.500
Aberlour Children’s Charity – Urgent Assistance Programme	0.550
Ending Homelessness Together Fund (increase)	0.150
Kings Trust, NHS Scotland Partnership (expansion)	0.500
Additional Parental Employability Support activity	0.242
Women Returner Programme	0.038
Flexibility Works – supporting increased flexible working	0.025
Total	9.970

Investment to support children in poverty

In the 2025-26 financial year, it is estimated that over £3.1 billion was invested across a range of programmes targeted at low income households. Of this, we estimate that almost £1.5 billion benefitted children. These totals, along with the breakdown of estimated spend on individual programmes, can be seen in the tables below. Comparative to 2024-25 estimates, this represents an increase of nearly £287 million in spend targeted to low income households and an increase £74 million in spend which benefitted children.

These figures are estimates. They comprise a mixture of outturn, budgeted, and forecasted figures, depending on what was available at the time. Some of the figures are published, whereas others were sourced internally. Furthermore, although we have attempted to stay consistent with the figures included in the equivalent table in previous progress reports, inconsistencies could remain. For policies targeted at all people on a low income, we have given consideration to any additional evidence which would enable us to produce a better estimate and have included footnotes to indicate the methodology used. In the absence of this information we have continued to use the latest statistics on the proportion of people in poverty who are children as in previous years (21% in 2022-25) to derive an estimate of spend which benefitted children in low income households. We have excluded administration costs where possible.

As in previous years, these estimates do not include spend on universal services from which children in poverty will also benefit, including services focused specifically on children such as funded Early Learning and Childcare, or wider support including free prescriptions, healthcare, free tuition and free bus travel for under 22s – all of which form a core part of Scotland’s cost of living guarantee. The exception is the universal Free School Meal provisions which are included in the School Meal calculation, this is due to the interaction of the various funds for free school meals and the varied take up of the offer by students. Disability benefits have also been excluded from the calculations, as these are non-means tested and their purpose is to provide support to help with the additional costs associated with having a disability or long-term health condition. Wider investments such as these are important aspects of our overall strategy to reducing child poverty.

As with estimates produced last year, we continue to use a three-year average for the proportion of people in poverty who are children.

Table 4.5a sets out estimates of investment across 2022-26, drawn from Table 4.5b and calculations published in the respective progress reports. It is estimated that across the life of ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’ £11.88 billion was invested across a range of programmes targeted at low-income households. Of this, we estimate that £5.54 billion benefited children. Comparative to 2018-22 estimates, this represents an increase of £3.4 billion in spend targeted to low income households in 2022-26, and an increase of £2.25 billion in spend which benefited children. Relative to 2018-19, spend benefitting children increased by £961 million in 2025-26.

Table 4.5a: Estimate of spend to support children in poverty 2022-26

Group	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25	2025-26	Total
Low income households (£m)	3,026.48	2,868.26	2,848.31	3,135.01	11,878.06
Benefitting children in low income households (£m)	1,253.90	1,379.67	1,414.44	1,488.62	5,536.63

Table 4.5b: Estimate of total spend to support children in poverty in 2025-26

Targeting approach	Low income households (£m)	Children in low income households (£m)
Low income households with children	1,037.88	1,037.72
Low income households, not necessarily with children	2,097.13	450.90
Cumulative total	3,135.01	1,488.62

Table 4.5c: Estimate of spend targeted to low income households with children in 2025-26

Policy	Low income households (£m)	Children in low income households (£m)
Attainment Scotland Fund[3]	185.93	185.93
Benefit Cap Mitigation[4]	5.41	5.25
Best Start Foods	16.60	16.60
Best Start Grant	19.00	19.00
Education Maintenance Allowance	17.40	17.40
Emergency Financial Support for Families[5]	3.55	3.55
Family Fund	3.28	3.28
Family Nurse Partnerships[6]	17.25	17.25
Parental Employability Support Fund	39.45	39.45
School Clothing Grant	14.20	14.20
School Meal alternate holiday provision	21.75	21.75
School Meals, including Free School Meals[7]	169.80	169.80
School Meals, Scottish Child Payment Expansion	37.00	37.00
Scottish Child Payment	460.50	460.50
STV Children's Appeal	1.00	1.00
Whole Family Wellbeing Funding[8]	9.32	9.32
Wraparound (School Age Childcare)	16.44	16.44
Total	1,037.88	1,037.72

Table 4.5d: Estimate of spend targeted to low income households, not necessarily with children in 2025-26

Policy	Low income households (£m)	Children in low income households (£m)
Advice in an Accessible Setting[9]	1.73	0.36
Advice Services (Income max/financial advice)[10]	7.08	2.64
Affordable Homes	825.22	173.30
Carer Support Payment	437.40	91.85
Carer's Allowance Supplement	60.20	12.64
Connecting Scotland	0.14	0.03
Council Tax Reduction - revenue foregone	351.00	73.71
Discretionary Housing Payments (Excluding Benefit Cap mitigation)[11]	87.74	13.02
Fair Start Scotland	2.89	0.61
Fuel Poverty/Energy Efficiency[12]	153.00	38.25
Funeral Support Payment	12.70	2.67
Island Cost Crisis Emergency Fund	1.00	0.21
No One Left Behind employability support (other groups)	38.55	8.10
Job Start Payment	0.24	0.08
Regeneration Strategy[13]	46.17	9.70
Scottish Welfare Fund[14]	41.00	17.22
Social Innovation Partnership	1.79	0.38
Tackling Food Insecurity	0.93	0.20
UC Scottish Choices	0.25	0.05
Winter Heating Payment	28.10	5.90
Total	2,097.13	450.90

Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 Requirements

Section 10 of the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 sets out a range of requirements around progress reports. The following explains how we have met those requirements by provision, with directions to the relevant sections or specific pages within this report.

10(1) Scottish Ministers must, before the end of the period of 3 months beginning with the last day of each reporting year, prepare a report (a “progress report”) on the progress made during the year—

a) towards meeting the child poverty targets, and

b) in implementing the relevant delivery plan.

This is the eighth progress report due under the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017.

Section 3 outlines our approach to assessing progress and presents the most recent data on the four targets, including statistics for 2024-25. Progress in implementing the Delivery Plan across 2025-26 is set out in section 2.

10(2) A progress report must in particular

(a) describe the measures taken by the Scottish Ministers in accordance with that delivery plan.

Section 2 sets out key progress in implementing ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’, aligned with thematic areas of focus. Brief updates on actions not otherwise reported can be found in Table 4.2

(b) describe the effect of those measures on progress towards meeting the child poverty targets.

Each thematic area of focus in Section 2 includes a summary of the impact of actions based on the latest evidence available.

Section 3 details a summary of changes in the drivers of poverty reduction and the contribution of policies. Economic modelling was published alongside ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’ setting out anticipated impacts on the child poverty targets.

An updated cumulative impact assessment was published in March 2026.

(c) the effect of those measures on reducing the number of children living in single-parent households against each of the four targets.

Section 3 presents the most recent child poverty statistics for the six priority families identified in ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’ – including children living in single parent households – and reflects on changes in poverty rates for these groups over time.

Section 2 sets out the impact of policies for lone parent families where available.

(d) the effect of those measures on children living in households whose income is adversely affected, or whose expenditure is increased, because a member of the household has one or more protected characteristics.

Section 3 presents the most recent child poverty statistics for the six priority families identified in ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’ and reflects on changes in poverty rates for these groups over time.

Section 2 sets out the impact of policies for low income families. The impacts for family types at greatest risk of poverty are set out where available.

10(3) If, in preparing a progress report, Scottish Ministers consider that the measures taken in accordance with the relevant delivery plan have not delivered sufficient progress towards meeting the child poverty targets, the progress report must describe how the Scottish Ministers propose to ensure sufficient progress is delivered in the future.

We recognise that progress towards meeting Scotland’s 2030 targets has been and will be extremely challenging, and that further action is needed beyond what has been delivered under ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’ so far.

That is why the Scottish Government published ‘Bringing Hope, Building Futures’, in March 2026, committing further concrete action to drive continued progress on child poverty. Since publication of the Delivery Plan in March, we have set out additional plans, including to expand childcare, to cap the cost of bus fares and essential food items, to deliver 150,000 apprenticeships, and to expand eligibility for Free School Meals – helping to drive further progress.

We will publish the first annual progress report against delivery of ‘Bringing Hope, Building Futures’ by the end of June 2027 setting out priorities for the year ahead.

Responding to the recommendations and advice of the Poverty and Inequality Commission

Sub-sections 10(4) to 10(6) of the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 set out requirements in relation to consulting the Poverty and Inequality Commission in preparation of an annual progress report on child poverty.

The Scottish Government wrote to the Poverty and Inequality Commission in January 2026 to formally invite scrutiny. The Poverty and Inequality Commission shared their advice and comments with the Scottish Government in May 2026. This restates the fourteen recommendations made to the Scottish Government on the 2026-31 Delivery Plan. The advice received is published in full on the Poverty and Inequality Commission’s website.

The Scottish Government’s response to the comments and recommendations of the Poverty and Inequality Commission is detailed below.

The progress made during the reporting year towards meeting the child poverty targets:

“There has been positive progress during 2025-26 in a number of areas. Take-up of the Scottish Child Payment has increased, and the Scottish Government showed important leadership in taking forward work to mitigate the two-child limit. Employability funding appears to have stabilised, providing greater certainty for services and service users, while the evaluation of the expansion of Early Learning and Childcare has found that it has had a positive impact on maternal employment. After previous funding cuts to the Affordable Housing Supply Programme, and a slowing of approvals and starts for new homes, 2025-26 has seen an increased focus on affordable housing, with higher levels of funding and an improved trajectory in the second half of 2025. Many individual children and families are likely to have benefited from smaller-scale funded projects and programmes.”

Scottish Government response:

Across the reporting year the Scottish Government has continued to drive forward action to tackle child poverty and the cost of living for families. As the Commission notes, there has been positive progress made. The Scottish Child Payment alone is estimated to have a significant impact on families, keeping 50,000 children out of poverty in 2025-26. We have also gone further, focusing on improving take up and awareness of employability support for parents and establishing our Bright Start Breakfasts Fund which is helping to inform and shape the national breakfast club offer announced through the 2026-27 Scottish Budget.

We also reprioritised funding previously committed to our Two Child Limit Payment in 2025-26 in order to provide immediate support to families struggling with the cost of living over the winter period. Funding provided to Children First and Aberlour has supported over 5,000 families, while funding distributed by the Corra Foundation has enabled 184 organisations to provide support to families in their communities.

We remain acutely aware of the key areas where further action is required to tackle child poverty and have continued work across this reporting year to strengthen our evidence base on what works, and where we must go further to drive progress.

Through ‘Bringing Hope, Building Futures’, our Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan for 2026-31, published in March, we have set out clearly the 15 interconnected areas where further action is needed – spanning across the key themes of increasing earned incomes, reducing costs of living, maximising incomes from social security and benefits in kind and supporting children and families to thrive. The actions contained within this plan will build on the wide-ranging action delivered since 2018 to drive further progress in eradicating child poverty.

Whether it appears to the Commission that such progress is sufficient to meet the child poverty targets:

“The action the Scottish Government is taking is benefiting children and families, but all the evidence points to the conclusion that the Scottish Government continues to be on course to miss the child poverty targets by a large margin. The scale of the action to date does not meet the scale of the challenge and the Commission’s view is that the new actions set out in ‘Bringing Hope, Building Futures’ do not add up to an agenda that changes this. Judgements on progress towards the targets are complicated this year by the recent methodological changes to the child poverty statistics and the uncertainty in the data. Despite this, it is fair to conclude that the child poverty statistics suggest that the Scottish Government has a large gap to close if it is to meet the 2030 targets. The Scottish Government’s cumulative impact assessment estimates that, based on existing and newly announced policies, relative and absolute child poverty will fall further, but by 2030-31 will remain substantially above the targets. The incoming government must take immediate and decisive action that goes beyond what is included in the delivery plan.”

Scottish Government response:

The Scottish Government remains committed to eradicating child poverty and improving the lives of children and families across Scotland through ‘Bringing Hope, Building Futures’, the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan for 2026-31.

Since publication of the Delivery Plan in March, we have set out additional plans, including to expand childcare, take forward plans to ensure essential food in our supermarkets is affordable, to cap the cost of bus fares, to deliver 150,000 apprenticeships, and to expand eligibility for Free School Meals – helping to drive further progress.

Further detail of the Scottish Government’s plans to tackle child poverty and the cost of living for families will be set out through Programme for Government and the Scottish Budget 2026-27. Updated plans will be reflected through the annual progress report on child poverty published by the end of June 2027.

What further progress the Commission considers is required to meet the child poverty targets:

“Scotland has committed to eradicating child poverty. This requires ambitious policies and actions, and the alignment of budgets and activity to deliver this. The Commission recommends that the incoming Scottish Government should quickly set out the additional action that it will take and how this will enable it to reach the 2030 targets. It should use the child poverty progress report for 2025-26, that it is required to publish by June 2026, to do this. In considering what additional action to take it should revisit the fourteen recommendations the Commission made in its advice to Scottish Government on what should be included in the 2026-2031 Delivery Plan.”

Scottish Government response:

Eradicating child poverty was at the heart of the Scottish Budget for 2026-27 and the Scottish Spending Review, which underpin ‘Bringing Hope, Building Futures’. This includes through commitments to invest £40 million in 2026-27 to deliver new support with transport and skills for families, to increase our Scottish Child Payment to £40 for families with a child under 1 during 2027-28, and to invest £100 million to deliver a national breakfast club offer for primary school aged children.

The First Minister has been clear that it will be the defining mission of this government to support families with the cost of living and to eradicate child poverty. Driving further progress on child poverty across portfolios will be a key consideration in development of Programme for Government and the forthcoming Scottish Budget for 2027-28, which will provide an update on future plans.

Recommendations made by the Commission:

“The Commission made fourteen recommendations to the Scottish Government in the advice it provided on the 2026-2031 Delivery Plan. Some aspects of the advice are reflected in the Delivery Plan but some recommendations are not, or are only partially reflected, without the necessary scale and ambition. There have been no substantive changes in policy nor conditions since these recommendations were made. Therefore, rather than provide new proposals, the Commission recommends that the incoming Scottish Government revisits and adopts those recommendations.”

Scottish Government response:

The Scottish Government set out a response to each of the Poverty and Inequality Commission’s 14 recommendations in Annex 1 of ‘Bringing Hope, Building Futures’, published on 12 March 2026. These responses detail action being taken and direct to relevant sections of the Delivery Plan where further information can be found.

Following publication of ‘Bringing Hope, Building Futures’, the Scottish Government has taken immediate steps to implement the ambitious actions committed. This includes allocating £19 million of funding to tackle transport costs and availability challenges for families to Local Authorities and Regional Transport Partnerships, and opening the Whole Family Support Third Sector Fund for applications – with more than 80 bids being received from third sector organisations and collectives. In addition, work has begun at pace to deliver additional childcare funding committed and to launch our £21 million package of enhanced skills support from the start of the 2026-27 academic year.

The Scottish Government has now set out plans to go further to keep more money in people’s pockets and reduce the burden of increasing costs. This includes ambitious measures such as expanding year-round childcare to all children from nine-months to the end of primary school by the end of the Parliamentary term, introducing a £2 nationwide cap on bus fares, and taking forward plans within the first 100 days of this Parliament to ensure essential food in our supermarkets is affordable.

Ongoing consideration will be given to the Poverty and Inequality Commission’s recommendations in development of Programme for Government and the Scottish Budget 2026-27, and across the life of ‘Bringing Hope, Building Futures’.