Scottish Government
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Call for united stand against austerity
Benefit cuts will push even more children into poverty.
Third sector organisations need to stand united to fight Westminster’s proposed £12 billion cuts, Social Justice Secretary Alex Neil said.
Speaking at last Friday’s Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland’s annual conference, the Cabinet Secretary will encourage delegates and welfare workers to work together to bring the UK Government’s austerity agenda to a halt.
The first of these cuts, he will say is the UK Government’s Full Employment and Welfare Bill which will freeze the main rates of the majority of working age benefit tax credits and child benefit for two years from 2016-17, and reduce benefit expenditure in Scotland by around £130 million.
The Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) estimate that 11 million families in the UK, including an estimated one million families in Scotland, will be affected by the plans to freeze benefits.
Ahead of the conference Mr Neil visited the Shettleston Housing Association’s Smelly Welly Club gardening project in Glasgow which encourages children and their parents to get together to grow their own food, save money and improve their diets.
Mr Neil said: “The UK Government’s proposed £12 billion cuts will have a detrimental impact on Scotland and will do nothing to tackle the scourge of child poverty.
“We need to present a united front against these additional measures and I would encourage every organisation working to tackle inequalities and fighting poverty, to add their voice to this debate.
“Through our Child Poverty Strategy we are already working with partners to reduce levels of poverty amongst households with children and to break inter-generational cycles of poverty, inequality and deprivation.
“The Scottish Government, alongside CPAG and others wants a more equal society, we want to create jobs and lift people out of poverty, and we will continue to listen to the advice of organisations who are working directly with families across the country.
“However if we are having to fund mitigation then we have a much harder challenge ahead of us. Our resources should be used to take positive action and tackle existing inequalities, not fight just to keep people at a standing position.
“The Smith Commission proposals gave the Scottish Government limited powers to make real inroads into child poverty outcomes. We will work with all concerned to make sure that the new powers we have will lead to better results for people in Scotland.”
John Dickie the Director of Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland said: “With key areas of social security set to be devolved to the Scottish Parliament today’s Child Poverty Action Group conference is bringing together over 180 frontline advisers to get the latest details on what exactly is being proposed and share ideas on how new powers might be used to improve benefit support and tackle poverty more effectively.
“The discussion is crucial coming as it does against a backdrop of rising child poverty and the threat of further cuts to the UK benefits that families both in and out of work rely on.”
Notes To Editors
More information about the Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland conference is available at:http://www.cpag.org.uk/content/scotland-welfare-rights-conference
The Smelly Welly Club received funding from the Scottish Government supported STV Children’s Appeal in 2014, which ties in with the Scottish Government’s commitment to making sure children have the best start in life.
The Shettleston Housing Association is also receiving funding for its Community Growing Project in 2015/16 through the People and Communities Fund. This will build on the previously funded Green Volunteer project, by expanding activities to include more options for families in the local community and more inter-generational volunteering opportunities, both at the Shettleston Community Growing Project (SCGP) site and elsewhere in the local area.
The IFS estimates are at:
http://election2015.ifs.org.uk/uploads/publications/bns/BN172.pdf
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