SNP Government urged to amend Budget to include £5 rise in Child Benefit
SCOTTISH ministers have been urged to rewrite their Budget after new research showed a £5-a-week boost to Child Benefit would make nearly 300,000 families better off.
The cash injection, which is within the powers of the Parliament to deliver, would also be expected to lift tens of thousands of children out of poverty.
Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said: “Children in poverty cannot wait for help, they need it now. Before bringing its Budget back to Parliament, the SNP must think again.”
One of the social security levers provided to Holyrood after the independence referendum was the ability to “top up” reserved benefits.
Ahead of Finance Secretary Derek Mackay’s draft budget earlier this month, a coalition of academics, charities and anti-poverty groups called on the minority SNP administration to boost Child Benefit by £5.
In a separate letter to Mackay, senior church figures also demanded the Government act with “greater urgency” by backing the same policy.
The benefit, which is taxable for some high-earning families, is currently worth £20.70 a week for the eldest child and £13.70 for additional children. A £5-aweek rise for each child has been costed at around £256 million.
However, Mackay snubbed the calls and the Government is sticking with its plan of introducing an “income supplement” by 2022, which could be after the next Holyrood election.
New figures, produced by Scottish Labour, show that more than half-a-million families would receive a boost if the policy was introduced next year.
The statistics also reveal that 274,885 families with more than one child would see their income topped up by at least £520 a year.
Around 203,650 families with two children would receive the £520-plus rise, as would 55,055 family units with three children, and over 16,000 families with four or more kids.
In Glasgow, nearly 35,000 families fit into this category, while the figure for central Scotland is closer to 37,000.
Critics of the proposal believe topping up the benefit, first introduced in 1975, is an inefficient way of lifting some of the 230,000 children out of poverty.
At First Minister’s Questions earlier this year Nicola Sturgeon said the policy would result in a “drop” in child poverty of “just two percentage points”, adding: “I am not saying that that is insignificant, but we are committed to introducing an income supplement, and in doing so we must ensure that the money that is invested in it has maximum effectiveness in tackling child poverty.”
She also said that £7 out of every £10 would go to families who are not living in poverty.
Children are deemed to be living in poverty if they are in households with less than 60% of median household income.
Leonard told this newspaper: “Our communities are being held back by austerity. The fact that one in four children in Scotland are spending Christmas living in poverty is nothing short of a national outrage.
“Children in poverty cannot wait for help, they need it now. Before bringing its budget back to Parliament the SNP must think again.
“Labour’s plan to top-up Child Benefit by £5 per week will mean more than quarter of a million families across Scotland will be £520 better off.”
John Dickie, chair of the Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland, said: “There is no question that families need an immediate boost to their incomes to help tackle the devastating hardship too many children are facing.
“The Scottish Government’s commitment to an income supplement by 2022 is hugely welcome, but families who are struggling to put food on the table and pay the bills now really can’t wait that long.
“A £5 top-up to Child Benefit would be one way of lifting thousands of children out of poverty and protecting many more from the damage that poverty wreaks.”
Rt Rev Susan Brown, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, said: “It is a political, social and moral imperative that we act now to effect change for the good. The Church of Scotland stands alongside people of all faith traditions, and none, in the move towards fairness for all our children.”
Communities Secretary Aileen Campbell said: “Scotland is the only part of the UK to have ambitious targets to reduce, and ultimately eradicate child poverty.
“We are developing a new income supplement to provide additional financial support to families who need it most, as research shows topping up Child Benefit, which remains reserved to the UK Government, is not the most efficient or effective way to lift children out of poverty, nor would it be quick or simple.
“Our Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan outlines action to reduce child poverty, including investing £12m in intensive employment support for parents, introducing our new Financial Health Check service and increasing school clothing grants.”
She added: “In addition, we are also spending over £125m to help protect people from the worst impacts of UK Government welfare cuts and support those on low incomes.”