Poverty payment ‘is just a sticking plaster’

The Scottish Government’s flagship payment scheme to help poorer children is a “sticking plaster” which fails to tackle the root causes of inequality, MSPs have been told.

Nicola Sturgeon has insisted that the Scottish Child Payment, which gives £10 a week to parents on low incomes for each child, is a game changer in the fight against poverty.

But with the first minister coming under pressure to double the amount given to £20 a week – something she has committed to doing, but not yet given a timescale for – local government leaders at Cosla insisted that “simply giving people money is not going to fully assist them”.

Parents with children under the age of six can receive the payments, if they are in receipt of qualifying benefits, though ministers plan to expand the scheme to all children under the age of 16.

Cosla resources spokeswoman Gail Macgregor said the payments had “helped to top up low-income families and people who are very vulnerable”.

But she added: “Simply giving people money is not going to fully assist them.

“It might help to get them over that particular week, or that particular month, but we need to get to the root cause.”

She continued: “Money is a sticking plaster. It’s a very helpful sticking plaster, but it doesn’t get to the root cause of the inequality.”

But SNP MSP Neil Gray said: “It takes breathtaking arrogance for a Tory councillor to lecture anyone about poverty when so many of its root causes are policies inflicted on the people of Scotland by the Tories at Westminster.”