It’s tough to believe child poverty like ours exists. But it’ll still be here in 50 years if we don’t break the cycle
GRAN’S DESPERATE PLEA FOR CHANGE
In the Sunday Mail published last Christmas Eve, I told the story of a teenage girl and her gran who were living lives ruined by poverty.
Their plight touched hearts up and down the country and led to dozens of offers of help in the following weeks.
Perhaps it was the account of 13-year-old Christina being bullied at school because she didn’t have the right trainers.
Or maybe it was her gran Norma being on the brink of suicide because she felt like she’d let her granddaughter down.
It could have been the fact that this family were living a Dickensian lifestyle with no electricity or gas in the heart of modern-day Glasgow.
Whatever it was, people donated food packages, wrote letters and gifted more than £1000 of their hard-earned cash to help Norma and Christina.
While these generous gifts gave Norma peace of mind, they can never go far enough to solve the problem of child poverty.
That much was evident from official figures released last week that showed 230,000 children in Scotland – one in every four – are, like Christina, living in poverty.
The figure for 2014-2017 increased by 20,000 from 2013-2016. And it brings the total number of Scots living in poverty to a million.
It comes as no surprise to Norma, who believes there will be no end to child poverty in Scotland if big changes aren’t made.
Norma, from Maryhill, said: “Every single person who wrote to us expressed complete disbelief that this type of poverty could still exist.
“These people had all lived in poverty as kids at different times throughout the last 50 years.
“One was a 60-year-old man who said he had dealt with the same problems Christina has at school.
“These experiences were lifetimes ago but have never leftft them. Some of them have becomeme successful businessmen but thehe stigma is still there.
“They might be decades apart but the poverty people are experiencing is the same. And if no changes are made, we will be hearing the same stories in the next 50 years.”
Norma, 57, added the system meant to help families out of poverty by getting them back into the workplace is failing. She said: “The Government make it almost impossible for people in our situation to get themselves out. They set it up for you to fail.
“If you want to get into work, you can’t because you have no childcare. If you take a low-paying job, you have to make a decision between paying rent and eating.
“The whole system needs to be changed.ch Even the appointment systemsy for trying to get employment is flawed.
“They don’t take into considerationco when the kids are in school,sc so I’ve known people who haveh been given appointments whenw they have to be at school to collectco their child. And if they don’tdo go to the appointment, they arear sanctioned.
“Being sanctioned is terrifying. YouYo have the prospect of not eating andan you end up in debt because youyo miss direct debit payments.
“And you can’t even phone for help,he because you have no money forfo credit.
“You have nobody to turn to for support.
“I’ve been in tears after going into these places. It does nothing for your self-worth.
“And all these things contribute to a cycle of poverty that is so hard to get out of.”
When the latest figures were released, the Scottish Government said they were “absolutely committed” to ending poverty and would set out their plan to eradicate child poverty by 2030.
Equalities Secretary Angela Constance said: “These figures show the scale of the challenge we face, which is why we are committed to actions that make life better now as well as driving long-term change.”
Politicians suggest an increase of just £5 in child benefit would bring 30,000 kids out of poverty.
Norma remains sceptical but hopeful that these changes will happen.
She said: “The Scottish Government might say they are committed but it’s action we need.
“Even when people tell them exactly what child poverty means in real-life terms, nothing changes.
“The thing is, we are not saying ‘ We’ve not got, you better give us.’ That’s not what this is about.
“We just want a system that will make it easier for us to get back into work or get ourselves out of poverty.”