Poverty in Scotland 2021

This report shows the current state of poverty in Scotland. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic Scotland has blighted by poverty with a million people, including a quarter of a million children, trapped in poverty.

What you need to know:

• Without further action the Scottish Government will miss the interim child poverty targets in April 2024.
• The Scottish Child Payment must be doubled as soon as possible, but without urgent additional efforts, on social security or otherwise, the target will still be missed by around four percentage points.
• The upcoming Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan must set out a clear and measurable course towards meeting those targets.
• It must include a far greater scale and pace of activity to support those most at risk of poverty, including single parent families, families where someone is disabled and minority ethnic families.
• Being in a household where no one is working is one of the biggest risk factors of being in poverty.
• Support for people on low incomes is often fragmented and very difficult to access.
• The UK Government must stop the cut to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit.