One fifth of kids in Scotland living in poverty

ONE fifth of children in Scotland live in families that are in poverty and cannot afford basic necessities, new figures show.

Scottish Government statistics indicate 20% of children in Scotland live in families which are both classified as having limited resources – meaning they have low incomes, defined as having 70% of middle income – and also live in material deprivation, so cannot afford basics such as being able to repair or replace a broken kettle.

Researchers found children in Glasgow were more likely to live in families with limited resources than the rest of Scotland, with 41% of youngsters affected, while those in Moray were less likely to be in that situation than elsewhere in the country, with 10% affected.

The report shows children are more likely than the Scottish average to live in families with limited resources if they live in a single parent household (42%), have three or more siblings (39%), live with a disabled adult (32%) and if no or only one adult in the home works (67%).

Living in a rented home and in a deprived area both mean children have a higher likelihood than the Scottish average of being in poverty, with 53% of those in social rented accommodation and 30% in private rented homes affected and 40% of those in the most deprived areas.

Children are less likely than the Scottish average to live in poverty if they are living with two or more adults (15%), in homes where two adults are in employment (4%), stay in accessible rural areas (14%) and live in the least deprived areas of Scotland (3%).

Researchers produced the experimental statistics by questioning 2424 families with children across Scotland about their income and what basic necessities they could not afford.