[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$f10b3rz2z388kj":3,"$f21vbdxzdvo24j":16},{"id":4,"blog_author_id":5,"blog_category_id":6,"is_featured":7,"title":8,"slug":9,"content":10,"content_overview":11,"published_at":12,"seo_title":8,"seo_description":13,"image":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15},"01m45vtvk0pdb1y7c1cqv76edp","9cdbdd6d-4900-4646-a012-d3e67a5ee788","1",false,"Panic and Promises Won't End Child Poverty","panic-and-promises-wont-end-child-poverty","\u003Cp>We live in a world that seems to spin faster every day, where all the dials are turned to 11 all the time.  \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The headlines crash from one calamity to another as our political leaders rush to promise emergency action while their opponents demand even more urgency. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It is noisy, tiring and a few hours later, when the news cycle spins to another red alert, the last one, whatever it was, is most often forgotten. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For years now, child poverty in Scotland has been routinely described as a national emergency demanding emergency action. It is and it does but, with more than one in five children still growing up in poverty in Scotland today, is it time to ask if the language of emergency and crisis is helping?  \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perhaps it only encourages more haste but less speed, a birling carousel of taskforces and committees, policy papers and special reports, but too little measured and impactful action? Are we even checking if the blizzard of promises and commitments is being delivered before starting the snow machine again? \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What if the endless planning and process is actually slowing us down? What if somehow all the talk is delaying implementation of practical, tested, and effective measures to improve the lives and secure the life chances of the 210,000 children growing up poor in one of the wealthiest countries in the world? \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because we already know what works. We have known for years.  \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, there are no magic bullets, no simple solutions to the complex social issues that have blighted our poorest communities for decades. Child poverty, like Scotland’s drugs crisis, another national emergency, is embedded in longstanding economic trends that have stripped far too many of our neighbourhoods of jobs and hope. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those trends will not be reversed overnight but, in the meantime, we should not let perfect be the enemy of good. As Challenge Poverty Week begins today, the biggest challenge is to see the wood not the trees, to recognise and appreciate what is already working and build on it. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There are things that we know ease the impact of poverty on young lives; that have been trialled, tested and measured; that inch their families from peril to safety; that give them new strength, confidence and a path to a more secure future. So why not have more of them? \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These are services that our charity and others are delivering every day, hand in glove with our partners in social work, health care and education. These are services delivering real, measurable success, making children safer, healthier and happier today and improving their chances tomorrow. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Intensive family support, for example. The clue is in the name. It is the opposite of easy. Any family’s journey back from the very edge of crisis is one of hard yards and no shortcuts. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Our teams arrive to work, shoulder to shoulder, with families on the point of collapse, with children often on the edge of care. Ensuring those babies and young people are safe is always the priority but, after that, keeping them with their families is the driving force because that, all research suggests, is the best way to stabilise childhoods and secure futures. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Intensive family support means doing whatever it takes to keep children safe and families together. It can rebuild broken relationships; improve parents’ confidence in themselves; create new connections in communities; and help build firmer financial foundations with advice on welfare rights, maximising incomes and problem debt. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Any investment in intensive family support and other specialist services, for pregnant women and new mums, for example, is more than returned in thriving families, stronger communities and money saved. Resource is better spent on intensive support keeping families safely together, than managing their separation through a lifetime of crisis-led state intervention.  \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Our two Mother and Child Recovery Houses, in Falkirk and Dundee, for example, offer recovery spaces for pregnant and new mums with a history of substance use, allowing them to recover while staying safely with their babies. This helps keep families together and children at home, improves their futures and saves millions of pounds in avoided care costs. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is true child protection and the big question is not whether we can afford to roll out these services across Scotland but if we can afford not to?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Justina Murray \u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003Cbr>\u003Cstrong>Chief executive of Aberlour Children’s Charity \u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp> \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cem>This article was written for the Daily Record and published on Monday 5th October 2026.\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fp>",null,"2026-10-05T00:00:00.000000Z","Aberlour Children's Charity CEO, Justina Murray, explains what must be done to end child poverty in Scotland. We know what works and we've known for years. ","media\u002FRS873_0E5A9135.jpg","2026-10-05T11:05:26.000000Z",{"id":17,"blog_author_id":6,"blog_category_id":6,"is_featured":7,"title":18,"slug":19,"content":20,"content_overview":21,"published_at":22,"seo_title":23,"seo_description":24,"image":25,"created_at":26,"updated_at":27,"next":28,"prev":29},"01j6cdm1v9h2gt59jvbahh9vws","Aberlour’s response to the Scottish budget","aberlours-response-to-the-scottish-budget","\u003Cp>Today, Tuesday 19\u003Csup>th\u003C\u002Fsup> December 2023, the Scottish Finance Secretary Shona Robinson announced the Scottish Government’s budget for the next financial year in Parliament. Read Aberlour CEO, SallyAnn Kelly OBE’s, response.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“During his campaign to become First Minister earlier this year Humza Yousaf committed to increasing the Scottish Child Payment to £30 per week.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It is very disappointing not to see that commitment realised in today’s Scottish Budget.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The cost of living crisis continues to hit the poorest the hardest and rising energy bills and food prices will only make things even harder for struggling families in the coming months.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Increasing the value of the Scottish Child Payment only in line with inflation will not provide families with enough to mitigate ever more financial strain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Failure to respond to the calls of more than \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.aberlour.org.uk\u002Fpublications\u002Fend-child-poverty-letter-to-first-minister-ahead-of-autumn-budget-announcement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">150 organisations and campaigners\u003C\u002Fa> to raise the Scottish Child Payment to £30 per week is a missed opportunity to keep Scotland on track to meet our child poverty targets and to lift more children and families out of poverty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We welcome the commitments to end school meal debt for this year – an issue Aberlour has long campaigned on – and to extending free school meal eligibility to all primary school children whose families receive the Scottish Child Payment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“However, ending school meal debt for good will require a commitment that goes beyond a “one-off” fund, as well as increasing income thresholds for free school meal eligibility to benefit all low income families in Scotland and prevent school meal debt from occurring altogether.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Nonetheless, we know the best way to prevent families experiencing debt is to make sure they have enough money to provide for themselves in the first place.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Therefore, we continue to urge the First Minister to live up to his commitment to tackle child poverty and put more money in families’ pockets by increasing the Scottish Child Payment even further at the earliest opportunity.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>SallyAnn Kelly OBE\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Aberlour CEO\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n","\u003Cp>Today, Tuesday 19th December 2023, the Scottish Finance Secretary Shona Robinson announced the Scottish Government’s budget for the next financial year in Parliament. Read Aberlour CEO, SallyAnn Kelly OBE’s, response. “During his campaign to become First Minister earlier this year Humza Yousaf committed to increasing the Scottish Child Payment to £30 per week. “It is … \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fweb-backend.aberlour.org.uk\u002Faberlours-response-to-the-scottish-budget\u002F\">Continued\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>\n","2023-12-19T00:00:00.000000Z","Aberlour’s response to the Scottish budget - Aberlour - Web Backend","Read Aberlour's response, from CEO SallyAnn Kelly, to the latest Scottish Government's Budget announcement.","media\u002FSallyAnn-Final-scaled.jpg","2024-08-28T11:58:31.000000Z","2024-11-25T07:22:18.000000Z",{"id":17,"blog_author_id":6,"blog_category_id":6,"is_featured":7,"title":18,"slug":19,"content":20,"content_overview":21,"published_at":22,"seo_title":23,"seo_description":24,"image":25,"created_at":26,"updated_at":27},{"id":30,"blog_author_id":6,"blog_category_id":6,"is_featured":7,"title":31,"slug":32,"content":33,"content_overview":34,"published_at":35,"seo_title":36,"seo_description":37,"image":38,"created_at":39,"updated_at":27},"01j6cdm3j5rb8krj72tg7z3mc5","School meal debt cancelled","school-meal-debt-cancelled","\u003Cp>Today Aberlour welcomes the Scottish Government measure put in place to cancel school meal debt. This follows an extensive joint campaign with The Scottish Sun to ‘Sort the School Meal Debt’ for low income families.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Chief Executive, SallyAnn Kelly OBE says:\u003C\u002Fstrong>–\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Cancelling school meal debt is the right thing to do. We welcome the commitment from the First Minister to write off school meal debt for 30,000 children across Scotland. This will provide some relief to low income families struggling to feed their children in the midst of a cost of living crisis.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, we know that too many families face food insecurity every day and worry about feeding their children in school or at home. School meal debt is a symptom of families simply not having enough money to provide for themselves. So we must make sure that we put in place measures to prevent school meal debt in the first place. Raising income thresholds for free school meal eligibility for thousands more low income working families  is crucial to preventing school meal debt and tackling hidden school hunger for children.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This month MSPs voted for a new law to protect children’s rights. That includes children’s right to food. That we have school meal debt and hidden school hunger at all in Scotland shows us that right is simply not being met for children. The government must now make sure children’s right to food is upheld and that Scotland does not breach the very commitments we have signed up to.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Therefore, we continue to urge the First Minister to commit to extending free school meal eligibility for all low income working families to stop children being burdened with school meal debt and to make Scotland a country where no child goes hungry.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp> \u003C\u002Fp>\n","\u003Cp>Today Aberlour welcomes the Scottish Government measure put in place to cancel school meal debt. This follows an extensive joint campaign with The Scottish Sun to ‘Sort the School Meal Debt’ for low income families. Chief Executive, SallyAnn Kelly OBE says:– “Cancelling school meal debt is the right thing to do. We welcome the commitment … \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fweb-backend.aberlour.org.uk\u002Fschool-meal-debt-cancelled\u002F\">Continued\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>\n","2023-12-18T00:00:00.000000Z","School meal debt cancelled - Aberlour - Web Backend","Aberlour welcomes the Scottish Government measure to address school meal debt.","media\u002Fsallyann-kelly-web-scaled-e1648201627773.jpg","2024-08-28T11:58:33.000000Z"]