[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$f2mvfhrw9pmd4s":3,"$f10b3rz2z388kj":19},{"id":4,"author_id":5,"category_id":6,"is_featured":7,"title":8,"slug":9,"content":10,"link_text":11,"link":11,"content_overview":11,"published_at":12,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"image":15,"attachment":16,"created_at":17,"updated_at":18},"01j6cdwktrhqxe72128gd1f0s9","2","1",0,"End Child Poverty Letter to First Minister Ahead of Autumn Budget Announcement","end-child-poverty-letter-to-first-minister-ahead-of-autumn-budget-announcement","\u003Cp>Aberlour and another 100 organisations, charities, trade unions and faith groups are part of \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fendchildpoverty.org.uk\u002F\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The End Child Poverty Coalition\u003C\u002Fa>. We are all dedicated to alleviating and ending child poverty in the UK.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Today (Tuesday 28th November 2023) we have co-signed a letter to the Scottish First Minister, Humza Yousaf, urging him to use the forthcoming budget take substantial action to end child poverty in Scotland.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We are calling on the Scottish Government to:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cul>\n\u003Cli>Build on existing investment in the Scottish Child Payment by increasing this to at least £30 in this Budget, as committed to by the First Minister during the SNP leadership election, with a view to reaching £40 by the end of this parliament.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>Apply a robust test across the entire Scottish Budget: will this meaningfully support Scotland’s child poverty ambitions?\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\n\u003Cp>Specific investment should include:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cul>\n\u003Cli>Bolstering the wider income supports provided to children in low-income households, such as Best Start grants, ensuring – at the very least – they retain their real terms value.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>Ensuring the Scottish Welfare Fund is adequate and accessible, at a time of rising need – including deepening food insecurity – fuelled by acute income crises.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>Delivering on the Scottish Government’s commitment to invest in holistic whole-family support.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>Mitigations for those affected by the punitive Two Child Limit and the Young Parent Penalty via top ups or additional payments for those unfairly affected.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>Deliver on the commitment to fully roll out Free School Meals to Primary 6 and Primary 7 in the next financial year (not waiting until 2026).\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>Helping parents to increase income from employment, through increasing quality and accessible funded childcare, investing in person-centred employability support, and embedding child poverty focused labour market policies, including fair work. This is particularly important for women, who are more likely to be primary caregivers and account for the majority of single parents.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>Supporting migrant children, caregivers and providing additional support for priority families.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\n\u003Cp>Read the letter and End Child Poverty Coalition briefing document to find out more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp> \u003C\u002Fp>\n",null,"2023-11-28 07:00:09","End Child Poverty Letter to First Minister Ahead of Autumn Budget Announcement - Aberlour - Web Backend","Aberlour has signed a letter with 100 other signatories as part of the End Child Poverty Coalition to urge the Scottish Government to take substantial action to end child poverty in Scotland. ","media\u002Fscottish-parliament-scaled.jpg","docs\u002FEnd-Child-Poverty-First-Minister-pre-Budget-open-letter-November-2023.pdf","2024-08-28T12:03:11.000000Z","2024-11-25T07:44:45.000000Z",{"id":20,"blog_author_id":21,"blog_category_id":22,"is_featured":23,"title":24,"slug":25,"content":26,"content_overview":11,"published_at":27,"seo_title":24,"seo_description":28,"image":29,"created_at":30,"updated_at":31},"01m5fanaffkxrzkrpj1x4keag4","9cdbdd6d-4900-4646-a012-d3e67a5ee788","01j303dmcc6n6900v73fs88bc7",false,"Right to Food Commission supports Aberlour's Call to End School Meal Debt","right-to-food-commission-supports-aberlours-call","\u003Cp>School meal debt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Three words that should never be uttered in the same sentence\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Children bearing the burden and stigma of debt should shame any society.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And yet, here in Scotland that is what we saw happening for thousands of children and their families around the country.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For many high school children having a negative balance on their parent pay account would mean being unable to access a meal at school.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>School meal debt and hidden school hunger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two sides of the same coin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No matter what side that coin lands on it would still show how badly we have failed many of Scotland’s most disadvantaged children.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That is why at Aberlour we were compelled to do something about it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To make sure we stood beside those children and their families and to call for something to change – urgently.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We wanted to make sure we saw an \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.aberlour.org.uk\u002Fabout-us\u002Fpolicy-and-influencing\u002Fpublic-debt\u002Fschool-meal-debt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">end to school meal debt and hidden school hunger for good\u003C\u002Fa>.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In 2023 we urged the then First Minister, Humza Yusaf, to act.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To bring an end to the shameful practice of children and their families being chased by debt collectors for school meal debt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>School meal debt is a symptom of families not having enough money to provide the very basics for their children.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fundamentally, it is about a lack of income.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We welcomed the introduction of a one-off School Meal Debt Fund to write off outstanding debt for one year.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But we were clear that was not enough.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Our evidence shows that the majority of children with school meal debt are from low-income working families who do not qualify for free school meals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So, along with writing off the debt for struggling families, we called for the expansion of Free School Meals to all low-income families across Scotland to help prevent school meal debt in the first place.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Again, we welcomed John Swinney’s subsequent commitment to continuing the School Meal Debt Fund for a further year to write off nearly £3 million of school meal debt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Figures show that this benefitted 70,000 children and their families across Scotland over the last two years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A welcome relief for many, but still a limited intervention without a long-term solution.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Our campaign to end school meal debt has continued up to and during the recent Scottish Parliament elections.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Last year we also published evidence that pointed to the extent of school meal debt for children and their families in England.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What our research suggested was that around 1 in 4 children not eligible for free school meals in England had regular or persistent school meal debt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And so we called on the UK Government to act and follow Scotland’s lead by taking action to end school meal debt for children across the rest of the UK.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This week saw the launch of the independent UK Right to Food Commission report and findings following their work to evidence the scale of food insecurity across the UK.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Commission’s report provides a roadmap and clear actions all governments across the UK must take to end food insecurity for all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This includes ending school meal debt for good for all children the length of the country, from Aberdeen to Aberystwyth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In Scotland, the SNP made a commitment during the Scottish Parliamentary election campaign to end school meal debt once and for all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That manifesto pledge was then followed by the First Minister announcing that families struggling with school meal debt would continue to be helped by committing the same level of investment again this year to write that debt off.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This time this will happen alongside the further expansion of Free School Meals in primary schools.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The urgent measure and a preventative solution.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There is much more the First Minister must do to make real progress on his ambition to “eradicate child poverty”.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this is one example that the rest of the UK can follow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Making sure no child ever again is burdened with debt or goes hungry at school would be a quick win for Andy Burnham, to show his commitment to tackling food insecurity by ending school meal debt in every postcode.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp> \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Martin Canavan\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Head of Policy & Influencing \u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>","2026-10-21T00:00:00.000000Z","Aberlour Children's Charity's Head of Policy & Influencing, Martin Canavan, shares what must be done to end school meal debt and hidden hunger in schools for good. He shares what has been done in Scotland and what must be done in England.","media\u002Fshared image.jpg","2026-10-21T13:33:25.000000Z","2026-10-22T08:11:54.000000Z"]