Councils vow to tackle child poverty

South and East Ayrshire councils have outlined the steps they are taking to tackle child poverty.

The Post told last week how nearly 16,500 children in Ayrshire are living in poverty.

A new report commissioned by the End Child Poverty coalition revealed that 4366 children in South Ayrshire were living in poverty during the financial year 2019/20, once housing costs were taken into account.

East Ayrshire’s figures show 5754 children were living in poverty - with 6274 living below the breadline in North Ayrshire.

A South Ayrshire Council spokesperson said tackling child poverty is a“top priority.”

The spokesperson said:“The community planning partnership report annually on the work being done to mitigate the impacts of child poverty.

“For example, spring hardship payments were made for 4,744 children and young people with £100 hardship payment for each child.

“We have vigorously pushed out the wee white bag as part of tackling period poverty and last summer, over 5380 wee white bags were distributed as part of the free school meal boxes.”

The spokesperson added:“Between April and August last year, over 53,000 food boxes were delivered within South Ayrshire.”

And a spokesperson for East Ayrshire Council said:“A review of our community plan, undertaken during 2020/21, has provided an opportunity to reinforce our local partnership commitment to tackling child poverty, and this will be reflected in the new partnership plans for the three-year period 2021-24 which will be presented to the meetings of East Ayrshire Council and the East Ayrshire community planning partnership in June 2021.

“These plans will articulate our partnership priorities for 2021-24, with a strong focus on inclusive economic growth, the fair work agenda and the renewal and recovery activity which will underpin our future work to address child poverty in East Ayrshire.”

South Scotland Labour MSP Carol Mochan said she would be writing to the Scottish Government asking what immediate plans they have to tackle child poverty.

She added:“I will not settle for more excuses. This has to be our number one priority. Enough is enough.”

John Bell, an SNP councillor for Doon Valley, said:“As councillors, we’re doing all we can in this area and we have an army of volunteers delivering food parcels, staffing foodbanks and giving valuable support to the most vulnerable in our community. However, what we really need is for the Scottish and UK governments to make an intervention to tackle child poverty.

“Ultimately, it is they who control the purse strings.”