Aberlour Children's Charity: Treat child poverty like Covid
The devastating impact of poverty in Scotland demands the same emergency response as Covid, the countryโs biggest childrenโs charity warns today.
Aberlour insists the escalating crisis trapping young Scots in poverty requires the same urgent support offered to families during the pandemic.
One in four children now live in poverty but, the charity warns, the figure is far higher in Scotlandโs poorest postcodes where half of all children may be growing up in families struggling to stay afloat.
SallyAnn Kelly, Aberlour chief executive, said the number of young lives blighted by poverty now demands the same response that delivered urgent financial support for families as Britain locked down.
She said:
No one could ever underestimate the suffering and loss inflicted by Covid but the lives and life chances of thousands of children are being as badly impacted by poverty as the pandemic.
โWe need the same ambition, determination and urgency around poverty as we had during lockdown in terms of supporting families and protecting the lives of children.
โThe swift and effective action taken then is needed now and our governments need to step up.
Kelly said the difference in the response to poverty is because decision-makers are not directly affected as they were by the pandemic.
She said:
The emergency support for families during Covid would have been thought impossible just a few weeks earlier.
โThe reason that vital assistance was put in place with such speed was because politicians and policy-makers were just as affected as everyone else.
โThere was no sense that Covid was something happening to other people and that is why the response to poverty is so different.
โThe experience of living in poverty is so far from decision-makersโ lives that they have no understanding of it.
โThey believe poverty is something that happens to other people, to poor people.
Kelly said the distance between politicians and poverty has sabotaged effective action.
She said:
Itโs about what commentators call proximity and, right now, our decision makers seem far, far away from families in poverty.
โThe issues faced by those families do not impact on politiciansโ day to day lives and so they are not so invested in addressing them. That was not the case during Covid.
โIt seems like policy-makers have no real understanding of the daily challenges facing families, of getting food on the table, getting kids to school, paying for clothes, staying warm and all the rest.
โIf that awareness was there, we would have seen less talk and far more action.
โPoliticians would believe us when we say the safety net meant to catch any of us if we fall is in tatters.
โFar too many families are plunging right through.
Aberlour has urged the Scottish Government to increase the Scottish Child Payment and for UK ministers to scrap the two-child benefit cap because, Kelly said, giving more financial support for families in poverty is the simplest and most effective response to the unfolding crisis.
She spoke out as Aberlour launches its Poverty Relief fundraising campaign with every pound donated being delivered to families in the most extreme hardship through its Urgent Assistance Fund.
Kelly said:
โThe same urgent assistance happened during the pandemic, of course, and happened with unprecedented speed.
โThe difference was the middle classes were trusted so if you were working but furloughed, for example, you would be supported financially because the government trusted you to do the right thing by your family.
โFamilies living in poverty deserve that same trust now.โ
She added:
โThere is still this notion of the deserving poor and the undeserving poor.
โNobody questioned if people were deserving or undeserving during the pandemic.
โDuring Covid, there was an absolute determination to protect everyone and the will to put measures in place urgently.
โWe need that same urgency and determination to help families in poverty right now.โ
Aberlour has welcomed a number of initiatives aimed at easing the crisis, including the Scottish Child Payment and the UK governmentโs determination to improve the pay and conditions of workers.
However, Kelly said:
We welcome all of that but it takes time and children do not have that time.
โThey are suffering right now and they need action right now.
โThere must be emergency relief for families, even if only on a temporary basis, until these promised changes take effect.
โThat kind of temporary, emergency support is exactly what happened during Covid and is exactly what is needed now.
This article was written for the Daily Record and published on Monday 18th November 2024.