Tackling child poverty - six priority families concept: overview and guidance

2. Summary of the six priority families concept

The six priority families (‘the priority family’) concept is intended to support the design and effective delivery of policies which address the complex factors and systemic barriers that contribute to people’s experience of poverty, or that prevent their situation from improving.

By focusing on the impact of our interventions through the lens of the priority families, this will ensure that systems are designed in a way which works for these families in particular. This will help to drive down levels of child poverty whilst delivering significant progress on our wider equality and human rights ambitions, particularly in relation to advancing equality and human rights for women, disabled people and minority ethnic people.

Whilst data shows that the priority family groups are at greater risk of poverty, this should not be taken to mean that all families with these characteristics are in poverty, or that families without these characteristics cannot also be in poverty. Therefore, while the priority family concept will help to develop policies which are effective in reducing child poverty, it is important to note that:

• The priority family concept is intended as a tool to ensure policies are designed to be impactful and responsive to the needs of families at greater risk of poverty. It is not intended to be used as a means of targeting for policies, however it may help to identify targeted action or specialist support which will improve outcomes.
• Policies should focus on supporting low-income families. While data shows that levels of poverty were broadly stable in the years to 2023, this is made up of families moving in and out of poverty rather than a consistent group. Therefore, policies must be responsive to and conscious of families below the poverty line and also those at risk of falling into poverty.
• Wider evidence, including qualitative evidence and lived experience, should be considered to identify risk factors relevant to each policy. Groups at risk could include, for example, people who are care experienced, facing homelessness, victims/survivors of abuse, and/or seeking asylum.
• Consideration should be given to the intersectionality of characteristics. There is considerable overlap within priority family characteristics and with other factors which will increase the likelihood of families living in poverty. Ensuring that policies are responsive to the varying and complex needs is essential to addressing the needs of families at greatest risk of poverty.

There may be some instances where targeting which broadly aligns with the priority families is appropriate. This could include approaches or interventions designed to tackle barriers specifically faced by racialised minorities or disabled people, or where support is needed to target a specific disadvantaged group. An example of this is Family Nurse Partnerships which offer a person-centred, preventative intervention programme to young first time mothers, and their children. The priority family focus should be considered alongside the Scottish Approach to Service Design, a framework to help us design services around the needs of people and think about how people’s life events can help us embed particular ways of working.