Tackling Child Poverty

Child & Family Payments Changing Lives

A decade and a half of austerity under successive Tory and Labour UK Governments have driven a crisis of child poverty in the UK.

Vulnerable children and families are paying the price for incredibly wrongheaded Westminster decision making. This has hit households in Angus and across Scotland too – but, critically, Scotland is the only part of the UK where levels of child poverty are decreasing.

The reason for this is clear. Ending child poverty in Scotland is a national mission of the SNP Scottish Government, and key measures – described as game-changing by organisations and charities on the front line – have been introduced to support low-income families and ensure children still get the best possible start in life.

The Scottish Child Payment is unique to Scotland and provides financial support for families, helping with the costs of caring for a child. It is a monthly payment currently worth £27.15 a week for every eligible child that a parent or carer looks after who’s under 16 years of age. 

As of 30 September 2025, over 322,000 children aged 0-15 years were actively benefitting.

The Scottish Child Payment forms part of the Five Family Payments, the others being the Best Start Grant, Pregnancy & Baby Payment, Early Learning Payment, School Age Payment and Best Start Foods. All of these are making a massive difference for so many across the country.

The Scottish Centre for Social Research surveyed people in receipt of any of the Five Family Payments, and found that payments have a positive impact on recipients’ overall finances and have helped to reduce material deprivation and food insecurity for low-income families.

The majority of Scottish Child Payment and Best Start Foods recipients agreed the payments meant they did not need foodbanks, with other impacts including a reduction to household debt and borrowing, more regular healthy meals and more children being able to undertake extra-curricular activities.

SNP policies are estimated to have kept 70,000 children out of relative poverty in 2025-26.

The SNP will continue to put hard-up families first.