The number of Scottish people in deep poverty has grown despite thoughtful welfare reforms. More will be needed
Social security is an investment in people, yet politicians in England have often treated it as a handout that should be almost impossible to survive on. The Scottish government has taken a different attitude. In place of George Osborne’s two-child limit on benefits, it has established a new weekly payment of £25 for each child. To mitigate the bedroom tax, it introduced discretionary housing payments. While the Department for Work and Pensions rolled out huge changes to benefits without consulting those who use them, Scotland commissioned “experience panels” to involve people in the design of policies.
Despite these laudable attempts to ease the pain of Westminster’s swingeing cuts, the longer story of poverty in Scotland is one of bleak contradictions. As new research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) shows, while overall poverty levels have fallen, the number of people in very deep poverty has grown dramatically. Over the past two decades, a population the size of Dundee has been pushed into extreme poverty (households with less than 40% of the median income). People in this group are more likely to be single adults, from minority ethnic backgrounds, or disabled. Many of the causes – such as low-paid jobs – are national phenomena. Destitution is rising across Britain. But its increase in Scotland should also be a warning about how policies are targeted.
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