Our Child Poverty Action Plan sets out how we will work together to reduce child poverty in South Lanarkshire.  It has been produced by a wide range of local organisations including:

• South Lanarkshire Council;
• NHS Lanarkshire;
• South Lanarkshire Health and Social Care Partnership;
• Skills Development Scotland; and
• Voluntary Sector Partners.

This plan is our first and will be produced every year.

We want to make sure that what we do will make a real difference to families struggling every day to make ends meet.  In South Lanarkshire 22% of our children are living in poverty (23% in Scotland).

A family is considered to be living in relative poverty if their household income is below 60% of the average UK household income (currently £28,400).  This means that just under 14,000 children in South Lanarkshire (22%) are living in poverty and this is increasing.

Poverty has a grip on every town or neighbourhood but in some communities this can mean as many as four out of 10 children are living in poverty.  The following groups are more likely to be affected by poverty than others:

• Lone parents;
• Children in households where someone is disabled;
• Families with 3+ children;
• Minority ethnic families; and
• Families with youngest child aged under one year and mothers aged under 25.

The Scottish Government has asked us to focus this plan on three areas of work that are most likely to help reduce child poverty.

Income from employment:

• Hourly pay;
• Hours worked per household;
• Skills and qualifications;
• Labour market;
• Availability of affordable and accessible transport and childcare.

Income from social security:

• Housing costs;
• Other costs of living;
• Debts;
• Availability of affordable and accessible transport and childcare; and
• Enablers (access to affordable credit, internet access, savings and assets).

Income from social security and benefits in kind:

• Generosity of benefits;
• Reach of benefits;
• Eligibility criteria; and
• Take-up.

The link below provides further information on increasing income from benefits and entitlements; increasing income from employment and what else can be done to help:

Child Poverty Action Plan

To read about the launch of the Child Poverty Action Plan please click on the link below:

Launch of the Child Poverty Action Plan 

A child poverty statistical profile appendix is also available, however, key data is highlighted throughout the plan and has been key in informing the actions set out for 2019-20.