[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$f10b3rz2z388kj":3,"$f1v6qb0ye383hk":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":5,"blog_category_id":18,"is_featured":7,"title":19,"slug":20,"content":21,"content_overview":11,"published_at":22,"seo_title":19,"seo_description":23,"image":24,"created_at":25,"updated_at":26,"next":27,"prev":39},"01jrcyr54ntp6cq5n71eae697c","01j303dmcc6n6900v73fs88bc7","New Research Finds Over £200m a Year Taken from Poorest Families","new-research-finds-over-ps200m-a-year-taken-from-poorest-families","\u003Cp>New research from Professor Morag Treanor, working in conjunction with Aberlour Children's Charity has found that an average of £17m a month is being taken from Scotland's poorest families in deductions from their Universal Credit payments.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These can be single or multiple deductions as a result of money being taken from Universal Credit claimants to pay back the advance they received because they had to wait at least five weeks on their Universal Credit claim. And\u002For there could be deductions to pay a third party, such as an energy company or landlord. They could also be deductions to a government body such as the DWP or HMRC. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tens of thousands of Scot's are being impacted by these deductions of £17m a month. This equates to over £200m a year or £1bn over the course of a five year parliamentary term.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There are serious concerns that this level of debt being taken from Scotland's poorest families is entrenching poverty, including levels of child poverty, and that local economies across the country are also being seriously affected. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There is a growing belief, as shown by the consensus amongst third sector campaigners at the recent University of Glasgow and Aberlour Conference on public debt levels, that urgent action is required to tackle the public debt crisis and help not hinder people who find themselves in debt to public bodies.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong> SallyAnn Kelly OBE, CEO of Aberlour, said:\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cblockquote>\n\u003Cp>It makes no sense for governments to give with one hand and take with the other, for ministers to promise to ease the lives of families struggling to get their heads above water whilst often at the same time reducing those families' income through debt recovery and deductions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The public sector must recover debt differently, in a more compassionate, empathetic way that will help families escape poverty, not risk making their financial situation even worse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>More understanding, communication and discretion in pursuit of this debt will cost nothing while the rewards, for children, their families, and our country, would be priceless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The UK Government must scrap the five week wait for new Universal Credit claims,  which causes public debt to accrue from the outset of claims in the form of future deductions and too often leads to a cycle of problem public debt that traps families in poverty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Professor Morag Treanor, Professor of Social Policy and Inequality at the University of Glasgow, said:\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cblockquote>\n\u003Cp>Owing money to public bodies from already minimal incomes is a hidden scourge. There is much that can be done. There is action that can be taken. High levels of arrears and indebtedness should be seen as an emergency flare for families.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When conducting my research I raised the prospect of abandoning the five week wait and the advance payment. The response was that the IT system took that long to process a claim. If this is the case and it's 'operationally necessary', then it should be made non-repayable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cem>\u003Cstrong>Notes \u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Please see \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.gov.uk\u002Fgovernment\u002Fstatistics\u002Funiversal-credit-statistics-29-april-2013-to-9-january-2025\u002Funiversal-credit-deductions-statistics-december-2023-to-november-2024#regional-breakdown-of-deductions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Government figures\u003C\u002Fa>.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cem>This article was written for the Daily Record and published on Wednesday 9th April 2025.\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fp>","2025-04-09T00:00:00.000000Z","New research from Professor Morag Treanor, working in conjunction with Aberlour Children's Charity has found that an average of £17m a month is being taken from Scotland's poorest families in deductions from their Universal Credit.","media\u002FMorag and SallyAnn at Roundtable 2.jpg","2025-04-09T09:40:24.000000Z","2025-04-09T09:50:44.000000Z",{"id":28,"blog_author_id":29,"blog_category_id":6,"is_featured":7,"title":30,"slug":31,"content":32,"content_overview":11,"published_at":33,"seo_title":34,"seo_description":35,"image":36,"created_at":37,"updated_at":38},"01jshez7stc7h3dhgax1hrkw8p","9cdbdd25-1564-45ec-84de-602c5009ebe1","Aberlour welcomes Cabinet Secretary Neil Gray MSP to Mother and Child Recovery House in Falkirk","aberlour-welcomes-cabinet-secretary-neil-gray-msp-to-mother-and-child-recovery-house-in-falkirk","\u003Cp>Today we welcomed the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care Neil Gray MSP to our Mother and Child Recovery House in Falkirk to see the impact of the service firsthand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aberlour opened its second residential rehabilitation house in September 2024 in Falkirk, aimed at supporting women and their children through recovery from addiction and substance use. This new facility follows the successful launch of Aberlour's first house in Dundee in January 2023.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Scottish Government has invested £5.5 million to support the development of both facilities. These houses offer 24\u002F7 support and keep families together by allowing children of women with problematic substance use to stay with their mothers during recovery.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aberlour Chief Executive SallyAnn Kelly OBE expressed her gratitude:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cblockquote>\n\u003Cp>We were delighted to show the Cabinet Secretary our new Mother and Child Recovery House in Falkirk. It was an opportunity for him to meet the mums we support, speak to the team behind it and understand how the house has transformed the lives of mothers and their children.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Both houses, including our first in Dundee, offer a unique service enabling women with alcohol and substance use issues to keep their young children with them as they recover. They provide specialist support that helps women develop skills and build new futures for themselves and their children. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We appreciate the Scottish Government's funding for this essential new service and look forward to continuing our mission to support families and promote recovery through these vital services.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\n\u003Cp>Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care Neil Gray MSP said:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cblockquote>\n\u003Cp>I was grateful to see the fantastic services being provided by Aberlour, as well as the chance to speak to women and children living there. It is clear these are life-changing and life-saving services.   \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aberlour does a fantastic job in helping to support women, avoid children being taken into care and keeping families together where possible – work the Scottish Government is proud to support.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This Mother and Child Recovery House does vital work and the Scottish Government will provide a further £1.1 million to strengthen Aberlour’s delivery capacity and capabilities and support for more women and children.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\n\u003Cp> \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp> \u003C\u002Fp>","2025-04-23T00:00:00.000000Z","Aberlour Welcomes Cabinet Secretary Neil Gray MSP to Mother and Child Recovery House in Falkirk","Today we welcomed the Cabinet Secretary Neil Gray MSP to Mother and Child Recovery House in Falkirk\n\n","media\u002FMCRH Falkirk April 25.jpg","2025-04-23T13:56:33.000000Z","2025-04-23T14:27:20.000000Z",{"id":40,"blog_author_id":5,"blog_category_id":6,"is_featured":7,"title":41,"slug":42,"content":43,"content_overview":11,"published_at":44,"seo_title":41,"seo_description":45,"image":46,"created_at":47,"updated_at":48},"01jraw1tn8j9qdq2q6wbqjv9v8","Aberlour’s Board Cycle 150-Miles for Milestone Anniversary","aberlours-board-cycle-150-miles-for-milestone-anniversary","\u003Cp>On 19th May 2025 the Chair of Aberlour Children’s Charity’s board of Trustees, David Robb, and fellow Trustee, Jozanne Dahms, will embark on a 150-mile cycle from the Charity’s founding village to its current headquarters in Stirling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>2025 is an important year for Aberlour as it commemorates its 150th anniversary. Founded in 1875, in the Speyside village of Aberlour, by Canon Charles Jupp and Miss Margaret Mcpherson Grant the Aberlour orphanage was built to provide care and support to ‘mitherless bairns.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Today Aberlour has become one of Scotland’s biggest charities providing a national network of residential care and frontline support services to disadvantaged children and their families.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>David, originally from the village of Aberlour, and colleague Jozanne have challenged themselves to complete the 150-mile cycle in just two days. The cyclists are looking for all the support and encouragement they can get to raise awareness of Aberlour and vital funds to support children in desperate need.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>David and Jozanne said: \u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cblockquote>\n\u003Cp>We are both honoured to serve on Aberlour’s board. Every mile we pedal is dedicated to raising funds for Aberlour, so they can continue providing essential care, resources, and hope to children who need it most. We hope to be cheered on by some of the children and families we work with - we may need that motivation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Feel inspired? Are you up for a challenge this year?\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Could you take part in a challenge of your own in celebration of Aberlour’s 150th anniversary?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whether it’s a run, a walk, a bake sale, or something completely unique, every effort contributes to Aberlour’s mission. Together, we can give children the chance of a brighter future!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Check out our \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.aberlour.org.uk\u002Fhelp-us\u002Ffundraising\u002Ffundraise-for-aberlour\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fundraising page\u003C\u002Fa> for more ideas.\u003C\u002Fp>","2025-04-08T00:00:00.000000Z","On 19th May 2025 the Chair of Aberlour Children’s Charity’s board of Trustees, David Robb, and fellow Trustee, Jozanne Dahms, will embark on a 150-mile cycle from the Charity’s founding Speyside village to its current headquarters in Stirling.","media\u002FDavid Robb and Jozanne 2.jpg","2025-04-08T14:14:46.000000Z","2025-04-08T14:15:15.000000Z"]