Scotland Demands Better was the breath of solidarity and joy that was needed this weekend! Great to be there with my @jrf-uk.bsky.social colleagues, the End Poverty Scotland Group and our family and friends. Let's keep up the momentum!

Our third combined scenario includes an increase of the SCP, targeted social security policies to families most at risk and supporting parents into more and better work, reducing the child poverty rate to 10% and meeting the targets.

All politicians must understand the scale of the challenge.

For this example family to be lifted over the poverty line, the parents would need to work around 15 extra days a month on the National Living Wage or see an increase in the SCP by around £120 per week per child.

People in households with children who are in very deep poverty have less than half of the income needed to reach the poverty line.

For a household with two children under 12 in very deep poverty they would be, on average, £1,160 a month below the 'poverty line'.

1 in 3 children in poverty are now in very deep poverty.

While child poverty in Scotland has fallen in the past 20 years, very deep child poverty has remained stubbornly stable.

While these statistics show that the Scottish Government need to take urgent and significant action to meet the final targets in 2030/31, comparison to other countries and regions in the UK shows that Scotland now has the lowest child poverty rate in the UK alongside the East of England.

Today’s poverty statistics show that the Scottish Government has failed to meet the interim child poverty reduction targets.

240,000 children is Scotland remain in poverty (AHC). To have met the targets a further 40,000 children would need to have been lifted out of poverty.

If you are at the Gathering, pop by the @jrf-uk.bsky.social table and say hi to our Insight Infrastructure team! You can hear more about the cool things they are doing to make data more available and usable in the third sector!

It showed that the social security system has to go much further if it is to protect families from poverty and to create a system that is both just and compassionate.

Too many families in receipt of benefits are struggling to get by.

We also showed that the payment is likely to have a significant positive effect on reducing both inequality and child poverty levels in Scotland.

While increasing funded early years childcare would have a minimal impact on overall child poverty levels it would have a significant impact on the disposable incomes of low-income families. You can see more example families here: public.flourish.studio/visualisatio...