Scotland still has a path to meeting its statutory child poverty targets but it will be “challenging”, the Social Justice Secretary has said.
Shirley-Anne Somerville was speaking after statistics released on Thursday showed 260,000 children (26%) were living in relative poverty in Scotland in 2022-23.
That was up by about 30,000 from the previous year, after housing costs.
It led to child poverty campaigners reiterating their calls for the Scottish Government to increase the Scottish child payment to £40 per week, up from £25 currently and £26.70 from April.
Ms Somerville discussed the figures on the BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme on Friday.
She said: “We do think we can meet our statutory poverty targets, they will undoubtedly be challenging.”
It was put to her that the Fraser of Allander Institute has said Scotland is not on track to meet the interim child poverty target of 18% for 2023/24.
The legally-set target is to reduce relative child poverty to 10% by 2030.
Ms Somerville continued: “They are challenging, I’ve absolutely no doubt within that.
“But we do have a credible path to be able to meet those targets.
“That’s because of the £3 billion worth of expenditure that we have.”
New blog on the new child poverty data out today for Scotland. .
Are we on track for the interim targets?
Sadly no. https://t.co/ddlQny1F3D
— Fraser of Allander Institute (@Strath_FAI) March 21, 2024
She said the Scottish Government will do everything it can in the powers and budget it has to tackle child poverty, but she claimed the UK Government is continuing to “push people into poverty”.
Recent increases in the Scottish child payment demonstrate how seriously the Scottish Government takes the issue, she said.
Nicola Killean, the Children and Young People’s Commissioner, spoke on the same programme about the poverty targets.
She said: “There’s a lot of concern that those targets won’t be hit and I think figures are a call to action.
“More has to be done by the UK and Scottish governments.”
She agreed with calls to increase the Scottish child payment further, but said governments must look at “multiple levers” to deal with child poverty.