Scotland will fall well short of its legally binding child poverty targets unless ministers change course, according to a new report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF). The charity’s Poverty in Scotland study found that one in five children lives in poverty, and it is calling for a “much bolder and properly-funded plan” to get the government’s pledges back on track.
Under a 2017 law, ministers must bring the share of children in relative poverty below 10% by 2030. The JRF found the rate averaged 21% between 2022 and 2025, compared with a UK average of 28%. Across the whole population, 940,000 people, or 17%, were in relative poverty, meaning household income after housing costs below 60% of the UK median. The report put 11% of Scots in deep poverty and 7% in very deep poverty, and found the rate for children in ethnic minority families was 47%.
Much of the charity’s prescription centres on Scotland’s 32 councils, which it says are not doing enough and are funded on a model that is stretched to breaking point. It wants local government reformed in both structure and funding, including changes to council tax, which it describes as regressive. It also urged Social Justice and Housing Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville, who is reviewing the poverty goals after some interim targets were missed, to keep them statutory and demanding rather than weaken them.
The Scottish Government says its policies kept 100,000 children out of poverty this year, while accepting there is more to do. Somerville said the Scottish child payment supports the families of more than 320,000 children and that around £3.5bn will go on poverty and cost of living policies in 2026-27, including expanded breakfast clubs and more than £40m for transport and skills support for parents. Kelly Parry, resources spokesperson for council body Cosla, said councils took the report seriously but were held back by funding shortages and rising demand.
Polling by the Diffley Partnership for the JRF, based on 3,381 adults surveyed in June, found that two thirds of people think their council is underfunded, against 4% who say the opposite. The findings put pressure on First Minister John Swinney, who has called the eradication of child poverty his overriding priority since taking office in 2024 and repeated that commitment during this year’s Holyrood election campaign.
